Chris Noel was already en route to his
recitation when he decided to skip it.
He had another class to study for, and he had already made it to the
library, so all he needed was to find a decent place to sit. “The recitation was on the eighth floor, so I
went to the ninth floor,” he recalled.
But upon arrival, he made a startling realization: “the outlets on the ninth
floor—they don’t work.”
In New York
University’s Bobst Library, it can be hard for students like Noel to get the
power they need. Newly renovated floors
have a plethora of electrical outlets to charge a laptops or tablet, which almost
every student needs to write essays, review a professor’s Powerpoint, or read an
electronic textbook. On older floors, where
outlets are scarce, study time is limited by a computer’s battery life. In Noel’s case that’s just an hour and a
half, barely longer than the recitation he was missing.
On Saturday afternoon,
students had their pick of seats, but during midterms or finals, when the
library is packed, there aren’t many desks available, let alone outlets. It’s not uncommon to see people wandering
the library endlessly, heads bowed down looking for outlets at the base of the
wall, or for the power strips at Bobst’s own computer stations to be taken over
by MacBook chargers.
“It
makes me so mad” said John Lee, discussing the times when the library, is
full. His favorite spots end up being
taken, and he ends up “going to those wacky floors” where there isn’t anywhere
to charge his computer. His friend,
Daniel Soo, who was slouching against his backpack on one of Bobst’s
semicircular leather couches, clarified which floors Lee might be talking
about. “There’re like no outlets on the eighth
floor,” he said. “Or in the reading
rooms.”
Bobst,
opened in 1973, stores 3.7 million books and gives NYU students access to
“thousands” of online documents and journals.
According to Bobst’s website, the library has about 7,400 visitors each
day, many of whom stay to study on one of its eleven open floors. In 2005, the two lower levels were renovated,
adding more computer stations and group study spaces. A similar process happened in 2010 for the
fourth and fifth floors to create a “21st century research commons” with 400
additional seats and, that’s right, more outlets.
Although the older seventh,
eighth, and ninth floors have a few desks with outlets attached, it’s not
always clear if they’ll be able to charge a computer. “My favorite floor was
the seventh because I like being alone,” said Tolga Goff, but “some tables have
outlets that don’t work.” “You have to go
around with a phone charger and check,” he continued, moving his hand back and
forth as if plugging something in. Today,
Goff had opted for the sixth floor, which was remodeled last semester and now
offers the same amenities as the fourth and fifth.
Before the renovation, Joyce Chen had also been
occasionally unable to find a table with nearby outlets. But “not anymore” she said. “Because I only study on the sixth
floor.” Chen, who is at Bobst “basically
every day,” likes to arrive early, often before 9 a.m., and claim a seat at one
of the four-person tables against the library’s south wall. Each one has eight outlets built in, so Chen
no longer has to choose between charging her MacBook or her iPhone. It’s definitely a luxury, but one that makes
cramming for exams or writing ten-page essays that much less stressful.
Although the old floors can be an annoyance
to the twenty-first century student, the interviewees agreed that Bobst was
still the best place to study. “Bobst is
a great place for everything—you can eat, study, talk…” said Goff, trailing
off. On a sunny day, he says, “I’d
rather be outside, but Bobst is second best.”
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