Stepping into the library in the morning, trying to get some homework done, the first thing students are greeted with however is the loudness others chattering. But, all the talking is going away this year. School librarian Lauren DeRigne made some drastic changes to the library’s atmosphere in the morning in the start of this school year.

Starting this school year, students are required to sign up at the circulation the day before if they want to use the library the next morning from 7:30 to 8am or email DeRigne before 10:30 pm at night for independent study only. Students will also be able to sign up to use the library in the morning for the entire week on the Friday before the week. If students need to do some last minute printing or doing group study will have to wait until 8am before they can print.

DeRigne said that the change to the library’s policy is necessary because the atmosphere of the library has not been supporting an academic environment.

“It was more like the commons,” DeRigne said. “People were getting the idea that the library should be a place to lounge and socialize in the morning. If people really wanted to just hang out and talk, then the library should not be the place. The library should be the place for people who wanted to work.”

Before the new rule was implemented, almost all the students in the library was talking with their friends rather than getting some work done.

“One morning I walked around and there was maybe eight kids working and everyone else was just talking and having a good time,” DeRigne said. “It was not fair to the people who actually wanted to come in here and get some work done in the morning.”

As the policy is being taken in to effect, DeRigne comments on the quietness of the library.

“The 7:30 to 8am is so nice and quiet, and the kids who are here are the ones who really wanted to get some work done and have an academic atmosphere that fosters that,” DeRigne said.

DeRigne notes that the students are finding the new policy very helpful.

“I have heard a lot of students say that they really appreciate that time that they can come in here and not worry about disrespectful groups bothering them while they are working,” DeRigne said. “Even the kids who are once complaining are now signing up.”

Sophomore John Schultz was not so sure in the beginning of the year about the new policy, but he has seen the good of it.

“I wasn’t so keen on having the idea of my access to the library cut down on,” Schultz said. “But now I am liking it here because it is really quiet and there are not a lot of people here so I can get a lot of my work done.”

Junior Arjun Dharna, however, thinks that the new policy has made more work for him to be in the library the next day.

“I find it’s a bit tedious to email a teacher just to come to the library,” Dharna said. “It is not the first thing on my mind when I get home and have lots of homework to do.”

DeRigne hopes that this policy will be helpful for students and faculty alike, “I hope that it’s a positive thing and everybody uses it as a time to study and get work done on their own.”