Eggplant

Librarians Give Up, Make the Periodicals a Green Zone

By Dewey Decimal

Dining in Dinand

 

Dinand Library has undergone many changes this academic year, including the opening of new study rooms and a change in hours. The room formerly known as the periodicals now houses the art, architecture, and photography books collection, while long-obsolete magazines and newspapers have been moved to the main reading room and hopefully the internet. Most controversially, the space has also been changed from a red zone (a silent study space) to a green zone (a complete free-for-all).

Some might think that the change in study space designation is to accommodate collaborative study, but after interviewing many Dinand librarians, it became clear that library staff simply could not keep up with shushing the ever-rowdy periodicals students. One librarian stated that “It was a complete zoo in there. We just didn’t have the resources to keep that place quiet. I swear, I don’t think anyone knew that the room was a red zone anyway.” Said every single Holy Cross student, “Wait, that place was a red zone?”

Regular periodicals students are quite divided on the matter. The Eggplant managed to interview Katie Foley ‘19 while she was studying in the periodicals. Foley stated: “I used to love coming to the periodicals. It was a completely silent study space where I could really come to grind and crank out work. I watched the entire first season of ‘13 Reasons Why’ in one sitting here two years ago. Now with all the moderate conversation and collaborative study going on, how am I supposed to focus on my shows?” The rest of Foley’s interview was drowned out by the sound of the cordless drill she was operating to secure a plaque that read “Periodicals Hermit” on her preferred cubicle.

Isabel Tehan ‘19 also expressed displeasure at the change in designation. “As a red zone, the periodicals used to be a silent study space that only I would regularly disturb with noises ranging from loud, gossipy conversations to crunching on tortilla chips. Now that the periodicals are a green zone, everyone will feel comfortable being as annoying and disruptive as I have been for the past three years, and that’s not okay with me.” Tehan’s laptop typing reportedly deafened two sophomores last year.

Other students welcomed the change to a green zone, hoping that librarians would be more lenient about inevitable noise. Many conceded that while the noise levels of the periodicals could get a bit high at times, the head Dinand librarian also tended to be a bit overzealous in his patrolling. Too frightened to utter his true name, students refer to him only with the fearsome epithet of “Santa.”  

A sophomore reported that “last year in the periodicals, my phone went off. Santa made me do 50 push-ups for that one. Still not as bad as the time I asked my friend if he wanted to come to the lobby shop with me. I can never look at a roll of duct tape the same way again,” he said with a distant, pained look in his eye. Senior Erin O’Meara, who hasn’t left the periodicals in roughly two years, shared a similar sentiment. Echoing fear of Santa’s wrath in a silent study zone, she recalled how, after once having the audacity to come to the library whilst battling a head cold, Santa forced her to write 500 lines of “I will not sneeze in the periodicals.”

No one can seem to reach a consensus as to whether the periodicals change is beneficial or not, or how the new designation will alter the study space. At press time, Holy Cross had listed the periodicals alongside Seelos, Brooks Concert Hall, Fenwick and the Pit as a performing arts space.

Categories: Eggplant

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