Maybe this is a petty complaint, but my fellow students, will you please start using the reservation system for the Jeffrey R. Holland Centennial Commons study rooms?
I might be the only person at the university who cares about this, but I’m tired of going to LibCal, making my reservation, going to the designated study room, then having to prove to the person who got there first that yes, I booked this room in advance, and YES, I have my reservation confirmation that I can show you even though you and I both know that YOU didn’t reserve this room.
I’m also aware that the HCC study rooms didn’t always require reservations. Dianne Aldrich, head of library public services, said the reservation system has only been implemented for the past year to make sure that students have fair access to the rooms and everyone gets a chance to use them.
This system makes perfect sense to me. Students can book a room for up to two hours each day, and they can do anything academically-related in them, like having a group study session, doing homework or attending a Zoom class. You’re even allowed to bring food in as long as you throw your trash away and wipe down any excess crumbs or grease — think of the custodians.
Having the option of a private room to work in on campus is a pretty sweet deal if you ask me. That said, I’m begging you once more, use the LibCal reservation system if you want to use one of the study rooms!
I’m a naturally non-confrontational person and I avoid conflict whenever I can. It’s so uncomfortable for me when I’m about to enter a room I reserved and I see that there’s already someone in there. I don’t like kicking folks out, so I usually just give up and try to find somewhere else semi-private on campus to go to instead. It’s just frustrating; why am I the bad guy for following the reservation system?
I’m sick of students giving me dirty looks on the off chance that I actually do ask them to leave when I reserved the room. I’ve even had a couple of them say that I can have the room when they’re done or simply refuse to leave altogether.
“I got here first.”
Yeah man, sorry about that, I didn’t realize we were still using “finders keepers” rules in college.
“I didn’t know we had to reserve the room.”
Do not tell me that you didn’t know that reservations were a thing now. There are QR codes taped to the windows of the rooms and on flyers inside them. You literally cannot miss the “Need to Reserve a Study Room?” signs displayed everywhere in the library.
I will admit that you aren’t actually “required” to reserve a study room to use it. Naturally, if no one has booked the room you chose to be in, then there’s no issue with you staying there. The official position of the librarians is that it’s “recommended” to make reservations, so it’s not like you’re breaking any rules by squatting in a free room.
However, it is a rule that if a student reserves a study room and people without a reservation refuse to vacate, the student can go to the circulation desk or library assistant on their floor and then they’ll go ask them to leave. It’s a whole process that can be avoided if students would just use the gosh darn reservation system.
I don’t think I’m asking too much of students when I make this request. It’s the courteous thing to do, and if everyone would follow the library’s recommendation to make reservations for the rooms, I wouldn’t have to write petty articles like this one.
The link to reserve an HCC study room is on the Dixie State University library website right under the Library Announcements banner.
