Good Vibes in O’Neill Library
O’Neill Library’s Reading Room is ordinarily so quiet you can hear someone turn a page from thirty paces, but on the evening of Wednesday, April 19 this Spring there was a low but energetic buzz of conversation punctuated by “Awwww’s” of delight at the end of a trail of paper footprints, where students rubbed the soft ears of a golden retriever named Jackson. BC Library’s Anti-All-Nighter (subtitle: A Night Against Procrastination) co-sponsored by BC Libraries and the Connors Family Learning Center (CFLC), brought library, CFLC, and ITS Help staff together with students in a relaxed environment that ran from 8pm to midnight.
“We wanted an event to help students focus for the final push toward end-of-semester projects,” said one of the planners. “To help get them moving on end-of-semester projects (hence, ‘against procrastination’) but also to help defray tension.” This was the third such event, after the initial one in Spring 2016 and a follow-up in the Fall. Brief onsite surveys confirm what seemed obvious during the evening: students loved it. The most common refrain: “More!”
One student arriving at the event was overheard saying, “Look! People are actually happy!” There was a range of activities to encompass a broad spectrum of interests both in getting assistance for study–writing tutors and an academic coach from the CFLC, staff from ITS Help, and research librarians–and in breaks from study: creative outlets (coloring, button-making, and an electronic keyboard), items for play (games and serial TV shows on DVD’s), activities for relaxation and mindfulness (such as yoga, provided through the Plex) and of course the therapy dogs. And coffee.
The coordinating team included Steve Runge, Carli Spina, Rodrigo Castro, and Cindy Frueh of BC Libraries, and Ildi Szekely and Kathy Duggan of the CFLC. Both Enid Karr and Chelcie Rowell of BC Libraries were on hand for research assistance, and Charles Clements and Dominic Scheuring of the CFLC provided writing tutoring. Mark Gately and several Eagle Techs (undergraduate student employees) from ITS Help were on hand for technical assistance. The library hired Michelle Newman of Healing Movement in Newton for chair massages, and Chris Cataldo of the Plex for yoga instruction. Therapy dogs were brought by volunteers from Therapy Dogs International, who has been providing BC students (and staff & faculty!) with canine love for several years.
By midnight, all the coffee was gone, most of the staff had sleepily departed, and many tables had returned to being study space. A few students putting finishing touches on buttons got a reprieve; a staff member let them finish while he put away other activity materials. The rest of the library looked much as it always does at midnight: but for the lack of sun, the same number of students hard at work as any Tuesday morning at 10am: about ⅓ full.
