Yes
As a third year student currently facing the daunting prospect of the rapidly approaching end of my undergradate degree, I have a lot of work to do right now.
I’ve always found myself getting more done in a day spent studying in the library than I ever could in one spent ‘studying’ (i.e. expertly procrastinating) at home. Despite the increased availability of course and wider reading material online, a project such as a dissertation still requires the use of quite a few actual books.
However, I have recently come to think of the library as a last resort, visiting only to grab the books I need and make a swift exit. Despite the library now being open 24 hours a day, unless you’re willing to start work incredibly early in the morning or become nocturnal, you’re highly unlikely to find a study space in there.
Considering all the work that has been done to expand and improve the library over the past two years, it seems unfair that there still isn’t room for all of the students who would like to work there at normal times in the day. Based on my experiences, the problem seems to worsen when exams and deadlines are on the horizon.
For the majority of subjects at York, the first year of study only ‘counts’ to the extent that students must pass it in order to continue with their course. Surely this means that their need for library resources and a quiet, comfortable space is not nearly as pressing as that of a student whose grades in upcoming assessments will actually have a significant effect on their final degree classification? If the library can’t provide study space for all of us, it should at least prioritise those of us who have the greatest need for its facilities.
First years: I’m sure most of you have been sleeping soundly at night (or perhaps through the morning and the inevitable hangover) since October, safe in the knowledge that the work you’ve been doing ‘doesn’t count anyway’.
Everyone else: when you think back to your first year, can you honestly remember any of the finer details of the stuff you studied? Probably not. You’re much more likely to remember the madness of Freshers’ Week, meeting the people who are now your best friends and the celebratory nights out after your exams, than anything you might have written or studied.
This summer will be a crucial time for students whose exams count towards their degree, namely second and third -years. Those who only need to get 40% should realise that we are working not only to pass but to find a job and leave York with the best prospects possible.
I’m sure you’ll agree that first year is for being sociable, getting to grips with a new way of life and enjoying yourself in the process. Yes, you came here to get a degree but you might as well make the most of the relative lack of academic pressure in your life while you have the chance. Now please take your ‘whispered’ conversation somewhere else so this old woman can study…
No
With summer exams fast approaching, first, second and third year students everywhere have been flocking to libraries in search of a quiet place free of distractions to revise.
Competition for seats is increasing, which has led to stressed and frustrated second and third year students pondering the idea of a complicated priority seating system in the library.
Anyone who wants such a system underestimates the importance of first year exams as well as the amount of effort and money required to establish priority seating.
The main problem with the introduction of priority seating in the library is the difficulty of implementing such a system. New university cards which specify whether a student is a first, second or third-year would have to be issued, which would be costly and difficult to organise, as would the establishment of a special area which first-years would be forbidden from entering.
The replacement of thousands of university cards and the refurbishment of the library is far too disruptive a measure to go to just for the sake of ensuring that second and third-years have somewhere to sit.
Further, the proposed system would be almost impossible to monitor. What would stop freshers from taking seats intended for second and third years regardless?
How would a students in the latter years go about identifying a first year and asking them to give up their seat? This is not as simple as giving up a seat on the bus for an elderly, pregnant or disabled person.
To argue that second and third years deserve priority over first years in the library is to argue that the first year of university is not as important as the succeeding ones; a misjudged generalisation made far too often.
For first year students applying for summer internships, achieving good exam results is crucial. Similarly, a medic’s first year is just as important as any other. Many first years rely on library resources just as much as second and third years. While these first years could be given priority too, this would result in complicating the system further and would create inequality amongst freshers.
Even if second and third years were no longer competing with first years for seats, they would still be competing with each other. The library simply is not big enough to ever ensure that every single student will be able to find a seat, regardless of whether or not first years are excluded from the establishment.
Priority seating will not make the library any bigger. It would be ridiculous to give further priority amongst students already given priority over first years and even amongst the reserved seats, students would have to revert to the current first come, first served system.
There is no point in disrupting this current fair, simple system for a completely unnecessary cause.
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