Bookworming Into Summer: Finals Week In Berkeley, Part I

Posted by: Avinash on Monday, May 7th, 2007

(Finals start very soon, so we figured it was best to polish off some of our older works and provide you our places of refuge during these wonderful weeks. You know, back in the days when we actually studied for Finals. Do not follow our example unless you desire eighteen weeks of hard work to unravel in a matter of a few days. Or in our case, zero weeks.

Hence, we will preview the palaces of the UC Berkeley Library system which you have ignored the past few months can make your homes the next few days. Just be warned; by the time you get through all of these reviews, the only studying you will want to do is which bookshelves make the best discreet make-out localeswith your boyfriend or alcohol storage for your bender next Friday afternoon. We take no responsibility for your debauchery, but we will gladly accept your pictures.)

This preview focuses on the all-nighter libraries and mainstays of Finals weekend: Moffitt Library and The Main Stacks. Let us in on your own opinion in the comments.


The Main Stacks
Consider this library the studying Pantheon of Berkeley, a place which all of you should probably be acquainted with by now. It has the perfect facilities, with the many study rooms and chalkboards for group study, the long tables for big groups of people to stay with each other to ensure maximum comfort and interaction with the people studying around you, and the big, spacious cubicles for individual study. Did we mention it’s open 24 hours during Finals? We can’t wait until we move into this place at 7 am. It’s going to be grrreat.

Unfortunately, unless you plan on studying between the hours of 3 to 11 am, you’re going to spend more time scrambling for space to sit than actually hitting the books. All the big study groups hustle the tables and rooms, while all the students who forgot to study all semester hog the cubicles, leaving you wishing you had spent more time in clubs making friends rather than sitting in your dorm, talking to your high school chums about how Berkeley was kicking you in the ass.

No worries though, when 4 am rolls around and a student succumbs to slumber, gently lie him or her on the floor, lay their head on their huge backpacks and take their seat while they strain their necks. Welcome to capitalist America, where only the strong survive!

Once you’re there though, you’d better buckle in. Your study aids will all be scattered on the floor if you spend more than a minute outside grasping for sunlight. Additionally, there’s the looming threat of the ominous snack Gestapo, which I think is one of the byproducts of the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act sucks.

Moffitt Library

Pretty much where all the students who were too chatty or unmotivated to find a place in the stacks end up. Moffitt is a pretty cool library most of the year, but during finals week the place becomes an utter nightmare to maneuver through. Lots of background chatter that you can’t really tell anyone to ‘be quiet’, but it’s just enough that you’re tempted to plug in your Ipod and groove all night to Late Registration.

If Doe represents the interior of a European city, with its ornate interior and classic architectural structure, then Moffitt is a minimalist artifice that seems to run more on cramming as much people into as little space as possible. Every time one comes in here to study while finals go on, you feel massively constricted. And the lack of outlets renders your laptop relatively useless.

There are also those wooden cubicles which looked like they were rented out from some third-rate middle school, chairs probably swiped from a therapist’s office, the lovely open cubicles facing the windows and the beautiful view of…trees…very big trees…and more trees. We haven’t even discussed the loads of multi-colored gum from the past thirty years piled up in the cubicles…

Up later this week: The Hidden Gems & The Snooze Chambers

(Images from Berkeley, Vegan Awareness and Digilander)



Topics: Students, UC Berkeley

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