The end of the Spring Quarter 2015 brought the completion of W. W. Hagerty Library’s newest study area. Officially labeled the Silent Area, this space replaced an administrative conference room and staff breakroom with more than 25 new seats for students.
Now, a long table, complete with dividers, lies against the area’s adjacent window and serves as a place for students to reflect on their work while they enjoy a view of Market Street. New individual chair pods also offer comfortable and secluded options for students looking to study solo. Low tables with modern high-back chairs are now set in place for quiet group studying and cohesive collaborations when working in groups. They also allow students to turn 360 degrees and change perspectives easily.
One last asset of this new study area that has yet to be added is table outlets, which should be fixed in soon according to the signs placed over their expected locations.
The new space’s classification as an official silent area brings the count up to two for silent student zones in the Hagerty.
In contrast to the other silent zone in the library’s basement, the second floor zone has an open layout with more natural lighting and gives off a more modern feel.
“It’s nice that it is an additional quiet room. It will be useful during Finals Week to have the extra space. It is nice to look out the window, because the area downstairs feels like a dungeon,” Danielle Cole, graduate student in the Physician Assistant Study Program, said.
The extra light is not the only big difference in this new room. The color differentiates severely from that of the downstairs area. In this room, one still finds the grays, blacks and whites found elsewhere in the building, but with an additional splash of red.
Construction for new study space began in April 2015 and was completed without much interruption to the student body that makes use of the library.