How to Study in the Library

Bring any materials you need. Decide on the topics you plan to study during your time at the library and pack the textbooks you need for that class. Also, bring assignments or class notebooks with you. Also, bring pencils and colored markers. That way, you’ll be able to take more notes and highlight with crayons what you’ve recorded.

• Bring your computer if absolutely necessary. Some students prefer to take notes on their computers, or some students may use electronic versions of textbooks, so a computer or electronic reading device will become necessary. If those tools are not needed, leave them at home. Otherwise, they will only distract you.
  

  

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Go to the “quiet floor” of the library. ^[1] Libraries with only one floor do not have a quiet floor rule, but libraries with multiple floors often do. That floor is usually either at the top or underground, rather than the main floor, because the main floor has a lot of traffic and can be the noisiest. Going into a quiet room to study will ensure that you have minimal distractions while in the library.

• If the library doesn’t have any rules about quiet places, find a corner away from the aisle so you won’t be distracted by passersby.

Please sit at the small table. Libraries often have wide rectangular tables and small round tables. Choose the smaller round table, as long as it’s empty. Those tables are usually large enough to lay out your books and notebooks and not wide enough for others to come and sit next to you. Furthermore, choosing a large table when you are alone can be seen as impolite and wasteful.

• Feel free to stand up and go back and forth to rest while studying. However, do not rest too long.

Look for a desk to study, usually located in the back corner. Some libraries, especially those older or affiliated with a university, have small desks for students to work on. These tables are often lined up, several in a row or cluster, along the wall or corner of the library. Usually, those tables will have high partitions allowing you to maintain privacy and not be distracted by other students sitting at the next table.

Book a private study room in advance. More modern libraries are often built with study rooms, especially if the library has a connection to a college or university. In large libraries that serve multiple clients, you may need to reserve a study room in advance to use it. Find out the library policy about research rooms. You may need to make a reservation 24 hours to a week in advance to secure your spot, and the amount of time students are allowed to use the room may also be limited.

• If your library only has large meeting rooms, you won’t be able to reserve them for personal research purposes.
  

  

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• Note that many libraries will loan out classrooms on a first-come, first-served basis. Basically, if you go to the library and the room is empty, you can use it. There may or may not be a time limit in those cases, but the librarian may ask you to leave if you appear to be out of work and others are waiting to use the room.
  

  

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