Library provides new study niche for graduate students

Graduate students now have their own study space at Richter Library.

The new Graduate Study Room is now open on the second floor of the library.

Located on the northwest corner of the second floor of Richter, the study room contains 22 individual study cubicles, for which a carrel study key can be checked out daily at the Richter Circulation Desk.

The study room aims to provide a place for individual quiet study, and is not meant to be a place for working on collaborative projects.

According to Graduate Student Association (GSA) President Amanda Price, the project was started in late 2010 and was based on student’s demand for a designated area to study and complete their work.

Most of the graduate departments within UM do not provide offices or individual workspaces for their students, Price said. Richter, a popular place for on-campus studying, fills up rather quickly, forcing students to find an alternate, more peaceful place to work.

“I have often wasted more time trying to find somewhere to study than actually studying, which is infuriating,” said Elam Ramasamy, a chemistry graduate student.

As a result of student complaints, GSA passed a formal resolution requesting for an exclusive study space in Richter.

“This is important because graduate students, especially those writing their master’s thesis or on the writing phase of their dissertation, need extended periods of quiet isolated time to write and they don’t all have that at home,” said Scott Britton, the director of access services at Richter.

In the future, the room will offer mixed seating areas and lockers.

“This is very much a work in progress,” Britton said. “We need the feedback from everyone as this develops and we will be able to create a space that is ideal for graduate students.”

The room can only be accessed with a Cane Card. However, law students and medical students do not have access to the room.