Quietest spot in the 14 Columbia libraries?
October 17, 2016 11:40 AM   Subscribe

I joined the Columbia Library system, needing a quiet spot to work, with a laptop.

But with the new academic year, every one seems full. Butler is overflowing. Teachers is full. Union Theological is pretty good. Avery is full. Science and Engineering is packed. Most have "quiet' study rooms, but no room. The school discipline is not important. But I wonder, amongst all these buildings and rooms, if there isn't some overlooked place where I can get some focus? Course, if that magic place DOES exist, one might be loath to let others know about it. In that case, send me a me-mail.
posted by ebesan to Education (15 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
those little nooks in the basement of Lehman?
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 11:55 AM on October 17, 2016


Granted it's been several years since I set foot in a CU library, but I gravitated toward the grad school libraries- Law was always quiet and had cubicles as opposed to open seating. I also remember the East Asian library being super quiet.
posted by mkultra at 12:00 PM on October 17, 2016


seconding Law.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 1:13 PM on October 17, 2016


The library at the business school has a lot of desk space (the private rooms are for b-school students only, but you can use open ones until someone kicks you out). The law library has a ton of carrels, which will probably not be in heavy use until Thanksgiving (when finals studying starts). But, I think both the b-school and law school restrict access to students in those programs during finals and midterms. The law school also has a number of lounge chairs and small nooks near plugs that you can use, if you don't need a full desk. The b-school and law school cafes have plugs and are sometimes quiet (as a backup option). In Avery, you can use the grad-student-assigned carrels in the basement until the person who "owns" it comes along and needs to use it -- some just use the carrel as a locker/bookshelf and rarely actually do work at it.

The best strategy though, is to be an early riser and bring enough (non-super-valuable) stuff with you that you can leave in your spot to hold it when you step out to get food or go to the bathroom. For the libraries that open at, e.g., 8am, getting there at 8am usually means you'll get a spot. I'm really surprised that Avery is full when you go; I think you'll have better luck if you go right when it opens (if that's an option).

If you can deal with some background noise (or use headphones), Max Caffe is a great place to get work done near Columbia - they have plugs and free wifi and the waitstaff will leave you completely alone after you buy one cup of coffee (you have to purposely flag them down to order more food/drinks or get the check). Again, go at 8am for the best seating options and highest likelihood of extended quiet-ish-time.
posted by melissasaurus at 1:23 PM on October 17, 2016


East Asian and art were generally the best for me in finding quiet and empty spaces. Butler was good for finding drugs though.
posted by Lutoslawski at 1:29 PM on October 17, 2016


Oh, and music is small but always nearly empty.
posted by Lutoslawski at 1:30 PM on October 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


East Asian, as noted above, was consistently nearly totally silent. I think I remember the UTS library being very quiet as well - but I spent much less time there.
posted by kickingtheground at 1:43 PM on October 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


Just out of curiosity, as people here are obviously posting with knowledge: I myself was astounded at how crowded Butler became after summer vacation ended. Much more and much more consistently than at the couple of similar schools I have had personal experience with--crowded to a level I'd only expect to see around finals in Lamont or the former Cross Campus. Do undergrads not have study space in their own dorms? Or is the problem that (or also that) Columbia neglected to build a separate library for the undergrads?
posted by praemunire at 2:36 PM on October 17, 2016


Do undergrads not have study space in their own dorms?

I mean, they do, but when I was there we always studied at Butler. I think it's a combination of 1) Columbia students are a studious bunch; 2) Butler is large and beautiful; 3) it's a study thing but it's also a social thing. Probably 3 is the biggest reason it's so crowded there. We'd take bottles of wine in and then make out in the stacks.
posted by Lutoslawski at 2:55 PM on October 17, 2016 [2 favorites]


Well, but what I mean is, the residential colleges at Yale and the houses at Harvard have their own libraries. Not huge, obviously, but (often) stocked with comfy couches, very liberal on food and napping policies, some of them quite attractive, and with less demanding silence norms. Took some pressure off the university libraries. Do Columbia undergrads not have the equivalent of that?
posted by praemunire at 5:08 PM on October 17, 2016


Kent East Asian is certainly the quietest. As lutoslawski says, Music (7th floor of Dodge) can often be quite a bit less crowded and is quite comfortable.

Butler is to be avoided like the plague.
posted by spitbull at 7:14 PM on October 17, 2016


Try Avery again.Is this still an insider tip a decade later? There is (I hope, still!) an INDEPENDENTLY OWNED coffee shop in the basement with no web presence populated by well-dressed art historians. Plus, art books! But yeah, the East Asian library was spooky-quiet-- but with spooky-quiet energy to match.
posted by athirstforsalt at 12:00 AM on October 18, 2016


Edit-- at Avery, I always just "borrowed" a grad students cubicle that was decorated with some Fra Angelico xeroxes. I never saw the carrel's owner in years of working there.
posted by athirstforsalt at 12:02 AM on October 18, 2016


When I was there, the library in Math was always silent and underused.
posted by oryelle at 6:20 AM on October 18, 2016


nthing East Asian.

Now I see there is a "Graduate Student Center" on the third floor of Philosophy...but is the big, quiet, underutilized lounge still on the first floor? Aaack. "How many years ago/ Were you and I unlettered lads..."
posted by 8603 at 11:50 AM on October 18, 2016


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