Are you feeling lonely stuck between four walls in your room trying to figure out where your life is heading? There are many options available to you as a university student! Anything from joining a society to meeting up with friends in your free time. However, these activities might ultimately lead to procrastination, whether you like it or not…
This is where the Library comes in! It is (and should be) your most crucial destination. Haven’t you wondered what it is like to become a master of time management and impress yourself and others? As a final year student at Warwick, I would say my time as a fresher was daunting but during those times I felt like there would be some light at the end of the tunnel.
Are you interested in finding out what was key? I call it perfection. When I became a Library Associate in my second year, I got to realise that perfection doesn’t always mean having excellent time management and taking in loads of new information. Sometimes perfection means building yourself an environment in which you make a change.
Being a Library Associate has taught me to embrace difference because it played its part introducing me to the academic environment that I as a student was seeking. As an Associate, I learned that finding a fair balance between academic work and socialising is what the Library offers to students. Each floor has its own vibe, especially if you fear asking staff any questions you may have. The only requirement is that you don’t forget to find your way in and lose your student card as rarely as possible.
Still, as very recently the world started facing a huge crisis (Covid-19, Brexit and a dozen other global issues as it turns out), which left universities including ours a huge imprint on institutional services, the Library has been one of the places that has been most affected. As a rule of thumb, to deal with this problem, you can benefit from a range of library online courses and additional e-resources. Of course, these are a few of many examples that showcase the diversity in virtual activities the Library hosts.
It is also worth taking advantage of e-books available when you are in a hurry using the Library Search. If you would like to diversify your experience with the Library, there is always a room for one more lost soul in the Modern Records Centre, which puts Warwick Digital Collections at your disposal.
Last but not least, if you would like to shine academically it is worth looking at the study skills courses available through Your Library Online as they provide students, especially in the Faculty of Arts, with helpful guidance about completing essays and assignments. Better still, why not find comfort in the array of DVDs available to borrow when your face is soaking wet with tears after having a bad day. They are not necessarily what you would expect if you went to the cinema, but they do reveal many secrets about the past that are not present in contemporary cinematic productions, which makes them intellectually stimulating and a source of inspiration.
What’s more, in normal times you can put your rose-coloured glasses on and enjoy watching a good old motion picture on a big screen just like in a cinema but in a rather more professional-looking place. There is plenty of room in the Group Study Rooms in Rootes. While this may be a mission impossible given present circumstances, it is an activity to consider when the pandemic no longer poses a threat to our individual lives and the Library can reopen at full capacity and become your must-have destination (for some: once again).