Students Vet Lamont Life

Though Lamont’s cafe won’t be built until next fall, for some students this reading period, the library has already become a favored hangout spot.

But the boisterous and crowded atmosphere is a turn-off to others who get more noise and less space than they bargained for.

Lamont is open 24-hours a day during the week and until 12:45 Fridays and Saturdays, making it an attractive place for students to stay all day, leaving their books behind when they head out for lunch or a review session.

But thanks to Michael I. Levin-Gesundheit ’08, a new library policy makes this less of an option. New signs posted throughout the library request that students not claim study space by piling up belongings or locking up laptops to library furniture. If a desk or carrel has been “reserved” but is unoccupied, students can remove the items and use the space.

Levin-Gesundheit brought a complaint after an disagreement last reading period involving his girlfriend, Amy P. Heinzerling ’08. She had removed belongings from a desk that seemed unoccupied, and when the student who “reserved” the desk returned, they began to argue, Levin-Gesundheit said.

With the new policy, “when you can’t find a desk, you can take one that has been abandoned and notify the person upon returning of the policy,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Before signs went up, I met students who thought they were allowed to reserve desks for themselves all day even though they went unoccupied for hours.”

But students continue to break the “Law of the Library.” Yesterday afternoon there were eighteen “reserved” desks on Lamont’s main level. On one desk, a sign over a pile of books read: “I will be back shortly. Please do not remove.” On another, a laptop and several books were left unattended for at least an hour. There were only two unclaimed desks on the entire floor.

And even when students are in the library ostensibly studying, they can still be disruptive.

Charles J. McNamara ’07 had to spend last Saturday night at Lamont because his roommate threw a party in his room, where he prefers to work. But he says he tries to avoid the library because many students do not see it as a work space.

“Lamont’s fine, but it just seems like it’s caught between a social space and a study space,” he said.

And while many eagerly await the opening of the new Lamont café in the fall, McNamara thinks it will exacerbate the problem.

“It’s not appealing to me because I don’t come to the library to hang out,” he said. “I come to the library to get my work done.”

But with few spaces open all night, students have no choice but to study at Lamont all night. And the temptation to take breaks and socialize is often too great.

Lamont “regulars” Neesha M. Rao ’08 and Adam M. Jasienski ’08 count Lamont’s social atmosphere among its major perks.

“We cuddle,” said Jasienski, who spent last Saturday night in Lamont studying with Rao.

“It’s way more fun here,” said Rao, who stayed until 5 a.m. last Thursday and said that she is more productive in Lamont than in her room.

—Staff writer Rosa E. Beltran can be reached at rbeltran@fas.harvard.edu.