I tell you, I get no respect. Like everyone else in the world, I had tons of homework and things to do the minute I came back to the campus after Thanksgiving break. So I hit the hotspot I have come to call “Club McKay,” or McKeldin Library as everyone else knows it. Luckily, I nailed a second-floor study room and sprinted to it with a friend of mine, who had her own papers and presentations to work on for the week. Little did I know war was about to commence, and I would be caught in the crossfire.
People have lost all consideration for others. With study rooms on both sides, and a room on the wireless Internet side, my friend and I had it made. Until the room next door decided to raise hell. First, it was loud conversations. I let that slide for a little while. Then, it was obnoxious cell-phone ringing. I wondered if they had ever tried the vibrate function on their phones before. Even more brazen, the group next door put a phone call on speakerphone. Shortly, we heard music streaming through the phyllo paper-thin walls.
Everything including the AOL Instant Messenger noise notifications, salsa music and loud conversations helped elevate my blood pressure to a point where I retaliated by playing equally obnoxious music in our study room. Making me so angry as to throw an empty Starbucks cup at the wall, the brief five second silence on the other front led me to IM a friend on the floor to notify them the entire floor could hear their antics. They left soon after, which made my friends and I look like jerks, but at that point, anything had to be better than the noise. Many of you are wondering, “Why didn’t you just ask them to quiet down in the first place?” The point is, we did. “Why didn’t you ask them again?” We shouldn’t have had to do that. What happened to common courtesy to one’s fellow man?
I know study rooms are for people to study a subject together, but there should be a point when one says, “Hey, there are other people in the library, maybe we should keep it down.” Really, I shouldn’t blame them completely. Only since late November was wireless Internet extended from the first and second floors to the rest of the library. I won’t be missing those stampedes to cubicles on the second floor. But why aren’t the upper floors opened up in the months of December and May past 11 p.m. In an e-mail response, Cynthia Todd, coordinator for Information and Research Services, cited the necessity of “add[ing] staff to ensure the safety of the late night users and of the facilities and collections,” along with the additional financial burden of maintaining general library cleanliness. Moreover, plans of extending Late Night on the upper floors to 1:45 a.m. during finals week (so long as staff is secured) is in progress, I was told. So I guess all this hassle at McKeldin puts opening Hornbake or the Clarice Smith Performance Arts Center libraries past 10 p.m. out of the question, no matter how greatly the facilities are needed.
How about this: Why aren’t the walls that connect the study rooms insulated? Some have windows; so what’s the use of the vents that allow you to hear every cough, breath and heartbeat of the people next door? Mary Dalto, manager of Library Facilities and Services, told me she believes there is insulation in the walls. As to the vent situation: They were installed in study rooms to facilitate air flow because of oversight of air-conditioning and heating ventilation mid-construction of the library. “Falling asleep from excess carbon dioxide,” as Dalto put it, may not be desirable, but the extra noise of inconsiderate group study isn’t either.
While many improvements are steadily making Club McKay a coveted studying spot, fellow Terps must remember the golden rule: Do unto others as others should do unto you during finals week. So use your inside voices and be thankful your tuition money is being put to good use. Kind of.
Athina Tesfa-Yohannes is a sophomore government and politics major. She can be reached atesfayo@umd.edu.
