![Finna Happy Holidays! [ambiguous drawing of an animal]](https://library.bc.edu/answerwall/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AW12172025-1.jpeg)
Same to you! 🎁

Answering questions at Boston College O’Neill Library

Humans are so fascinating. Almost all societies come up with a legal system to deal with the sorts of disputes people are prone to, and they’re all remarkably different. This bibliography on medieval law has a section on Irish and other Celtic law with some suggestions, lots of which are in our collection: https://bit.ly/bc-brehon

Kittens are like toddlers, but with four legs, so suggest that you and your foster-mate discuss whether you both have the time and space to look after one first. The ASPCA has a helpful guide that can help:
bit.ly/foster-kitty.

It’s frustrating to not know where you’re goin to live next year. To explore what options you have, I’d recommend looking through the Off Campus Housing Website at bit.ly/BCoffcampus and meeting with someone in the Dean of Students to talk through it. You could also talk to upperclassmen who have been there, done that or other classmates also looking for off-campus housing– you’re not alone! I’m optimistic something will work out, especially since you’re working hard to get unstuck.

If your fish is out of water, it’s possible to save it, but there are no mouths involved; fish primarily take in oxygen through their gills. Here’s a quick how-to for resuscitating a fish: bit.ly/fish-cpr.

Ask for help! Your best protection in scary times is other humans. Depending on what you’re fearful about, talking to family and friends can be helpful by itself. Maybe you need some financial advice, or career advice. Maybe a doctor or psychologist or a religious authority. If you’re a BC student, you can start with the Student Wellness office and they can help direct you from there: https://bit.ly/4k98aCG

There’s some research that says teams pull too late to get the maximum advantage from a 6-5 power play, but no idea if it’s that or just a higher tolerance for the risk of an empty net. https://bit.ly/48ecbTn

That is such a real feeling, you have all my sympathy. Here’s one of the secrets: taking care of yourself so that you can finish the project is part of the project. I highly recommend focusing on getting good sleep, eating reasonably good meals, and doing a couple of other things that make you feel in control and on top of things. Then take another look at your project after a couple of days and see if it looks less daunting. And ask for help if you need it! Your adviser, your friendly librarians, the folks at the Connors Learning Center, we’re all here to help you through.

Bapst Services and Collections are managed by a team that divides its time between the Bapst and O’Neill Libraries. Collection Development is overseen by my talented colleague Nina Bogdanovsky, while library services are managed by Lida Supernaw (Daytime) and Morgan Wilson (Evening), with support from other colleagues at O’Neill and a team of student employees. Bapst currently has no Head Librarian due to a decision made several years ago to shift collection development responsibilities to O’Neill.

I polled BC Libraries staff. They say these are all worth your attention:

A red grouper, a common Atlantic Ocean fish, has an average length of 2ft. Assuming their max girth is 1/4 of their length, the typical area of a grouper would be 1 sq. ft. According to the most recent BC Fact Book, O’Neill has 206,910 sq ft (bit.ly/FactBook2425). So, you could hypothetically fit 206,910 groupers in O’Neill, though they’d require way too much water and zero bookshelves.