Students from all years are flocking to the library in record numbers according to statistics released by the University Library Services.
At peak time (15:00) the number of students working in the library already reaches 456, a 28% increase on the same period last year, when Library Services recorded peak time usage of 357 students.
Speaking to Vision, University Registrar, David Duncan, conjectured it was “perhaps an indication that new students on the higher fees regime are taking their studies even more seriously than previous generations, or possibly a reaction to adverse economic conditions and the increasingly competitive jobs market for graduates.”
Disgruntled third year Politics student Judith Marzo bemoaned: “I’m always noticing freshers wondering around looking lost in the library, ‘cramming’ the reading for their first seminar and saving spaces whilst they have two hour long lunch whilst I’ve got assessed work due in soon and can’t find a quiet seat!
“You’re freshers – act like it! The new students need to know their fresher priorities. I didn’t even know the library had a second floor until summer term of first year.”