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It's that time of the year again. Students gather in the library to study for the one more test before the final exam, do last minute work on papers, or, as it pertains to this thread, start on their papers. It's also that time of the year that stress levels increase and temper fuses decrease due to the aforementioned tests and papers.
Now as a disclaimer I will admit that there are times when people have legitimate reasons for not being able to get to the library to work on their papers.
I've had three people tonight ask for help on their papers. Apparently all these people have papers due tomorrow. As does everyone else in their respective classes. These people came to me at the circulation desk (where we are swamped and a person down due to 'illness') and asked for help in finding information for their papers. I point them in the direction of our reference desk because they can help them better than I and because there are other students waiting in line.
The general responses I got were:
"But my paper is due tomorrow morning!" (sad dog puppy face look)
"I don't know what I'm doing for my paper, could you give me some ideas?" (read: I'm too lazy to come up with my own idea. You HAVE to give me an idea)
"I don't know where to start looking for my books." (maybe legitimate, but in my years working at the ref desk it reads more like, "Please do all my research for me.")
Now is also the time where people really have to get a study room. It's not so bad because most of the people reserve a study room before hand. We have these people, sometimes in groups, come up even when we have a sign stating that all the rooms are checked out, and ask for a room. They even go so far as to wait around like vultures for the first available room or ask when the next room come available. Is it bad that I take pleasure from telling these people no everything is booked?
We also have people that will stay in the library for 10+hrs trying to cram or write papers at the last minute. We also have a no food policy, but let slide snacks like candy bars, apples, chips, crackers, and the like. We've had two separate delivery people come in tonight trying to deliver pizza to individuals/groups to eat in the library. I wish I could have taken the pizzas away from them, but we just sent them into our atrium so they could eat there. They weren't happy because they had to pack everything up because we aren't responsible for lost or stolen items, and told them as much after they asked if they could leave their stuff where it was.
I still have 3 hrs to go....
Now as a disclaimer I will admit that there are times when people have legitimate reasons for not being able to get to the library to work on their papers.
I've had three people tonight ask for help on their papers. Apparently all these people have papers due tomorrow. As does everyone else in their respective classes. These people came to me at the circulation desk (where we are swamped and a person down due to 'illness') and asked for help in finding information for their papers. I point them in the direction of our reference desk because they can help them better than I and because there are other students waiting in line.
The general responses I got were:
"But my paper is due tomorrow morning!" (sad dog puppy face look)
"I don't know what I'm doing for my paper, could you give me some ideas?" (read: I'm too lazy to come up with my own idea. You HAVE to give me an idea)
"I don't know where to start looking for my books." (maybe legitimate, but in my years working at the ref desk it reads more like, "Please do all my research for me.")
Now is also the time where people really have to get a study room. It's not so bad because most of the people reserve a study room before hand. We have these people, sometimes in groups, come up even when we have a sign stating that all the rooms are checked out, and ask for a room. They even go so far as to wait around like vultures for the first available room or ask when the next room come available. Is it bad that I take pleasure from telling these people no everything is booked?
We also have people that will stay in the library for 10+hrs trying to cram or write papers at the last minute. We also have a no food policy, but let slide snacks like candy bars, apples, chips, crackers, and the like. We've had two separate delivery people come in tonight trying to deliver pizza to individuals/groups to eat in the library. I wish I could have taken the pizzas away from them, but we just sent them into our atrium so they could eat there. They weren't happy because they had to pack everything up because we aren't responsible for lost or stolen items, and told them as much after they asked if they could leave their stuff where it was.
I still have 3 hrs to go....
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