With finals in sight, the Hesburgh Library and other preferred study locations will fill up fast, but students needing a place to study during finals week now have other options.
Rooms in South Dining Hall, North Dining Hall and the Career Center will be open for both individual and group studying.
"At the Library, everything fills up even in the early hours of the morning," Student Senate's academic affairs chair Austin Holler said. "By noon, so many of the tables, the desks, especially outlets as well, every nook and cranny is filled up."
For this reason, Holler said his committee worked with Food Services to open up rooms in both dining halls for studying during finals week.
The east wing of South Dining Hall will be open for studying Sunday to Thursday from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. The gold and F dining rooms in North Dining Hall will be open from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday to Wednesday, Holler said.
"Especially now that it's getting really cold, if somebody all the way down in Duncan doesn't want to walk all the way to the Library, they can just go to South Dining Hall," he said.
Holler said this year is the second year that the dining halls are open to students for studying, and that last year students welcomed the increase in study space.
"Last year was a really good turnout and a really good response," he said. "I went [to South Dining Hall] one night and when I was there, there were a good amount of people there."
The dining halls are large enough to be used for group and individual studying, Holler said.
"The big tables are definitely conducive to big groups being able to come in and since it is hard to find group study space, especially in the Library, these dining halls provide that possibility," he said.
"But it's definitely not reserved for group studying," Holler said. "There could be groups in there on one side of the dining hall and then if you want to study there individually, there is definitely room."
In addition to the dining halls, the Career Center will open up interview rooms on the first floor of Flanner Hall. The rooms will be open Sunday to Wednesday 8 p.m. to 1 a.m.
In total, 24 rooms will be available for both individual and group studying, director of the Career Center Lee Svete said.
Some rooms will have space for up to two people, while others will be able to hold four to eight people, he said.
"This is a quiet space that offers students a great place to study," he said. "We are excited to help students achieve their academic goals which will translate into finding exciting career opportunities and internships."
Holler said he hopes that word will spread about the extra study spaces available and that students will take advantage of them.
"Not everybody knows about it, but it's one of those resources that we have available," he said. "Whereas Hesburgh, Bond and Nieuwland libraries all … get so filled up."
