With all of the hustle and bustle of your first few weeks on campus, it can be easy to skip out on quality time with your readings and problem sets. While you can always retreat to the isolation of your room or the comparatively spacious layout of your dorm’s common room, we’ve selected some of the best library study spots on campus where you can get work done away from any distractions. Finding a seat is up to you, but with this list in hand, you’ll never have to ask the difference between Berry 3 and the stacks.
Baker-Berry Library
The Rundown: Dartmouth’s central library — the one with the white tower facing the Green that your parents probably insisted you snap a photo in front of — Baker-Berry Library is also home to a number of the College’s best study spots. For serious work, stay away from the facetime friendly havens of Baker Lobby, the long corridor running the length of Baker-Berry’s entrance facing the Green. First Floor Berry (FFB), a chaotic mix of conversation and public computers, and Berry 3 (3FB), whose group tables are a hotbed for all things social, should also be avoided when making any attempt at working. Instead, head to quieter floors like Berry 2 and Berry 4, where the atmosphere is a bit friendlier for serious study. Just don’t forget that there is no bathroom on the top floor of the library.
Another note: Don’t buy into the hype for Baker-Berry’s Tower Room. It’s a beautiful room that’s a prime destination for tour groups, but the large windows and view of the Green beg more for Instagram and pensive staring into space than actual homework completion.
The Trivia: Baker Library was modeled after Philadelphia’s Independence Hall.
The Quick Take: Dependable, constant and central.
Sanborn House
The Rundown: Home to one of Dartmouth’s homiest traditions — afternoon tea and cookies — Sanborn House is a wonderful spot to settle down in a comfy chair for an afternoon spent pouring through readings. Dominated by English majors who sample its vast collection of literature, Sanborn still welcomes students from all walks of academic life, greeting visitors with comforting nooks and crannies, accessible bookshelves and a warm sense of community. Although Sanborn features only a few desks and tables, each easy chair comes equipped with a hardwood board that, when balanced on the arm rests, can serve as a home for your notes. You’ll need to convert your laptop charger to its two-pronged mode here to keep your computer going, but the quiet clink of teacups and the picturesque iron-balconies make Sanborn well worth the adjustment.
The Trivia: Sanborn House was built to memorialize Edwin David Sanborn, a member of the Class of 1832, who was the first faculty member at the College to hold an appointment in English literature.
The Quick Take: If you had a wealthy middle-aged English aunt with a library, the library would look this.
Feldberg Business and Engineering Library
The Rundown: A favorite for River Cluster residents — especially during the winter when the walk to Baker-Berry can feel far longer than five minutes — Feldberg Library is renowned for its sense of quiet. Jokingly referred to as the “anti facetime library,” Feldberg can be reached by heading down Tuck Drive and bearing to the right of the Thayer School of Engineering down a set of stone steps. Feldberg boasts several four-person tables on its first floor, an upper level with isolated cubicles and a GreenPrint station. Large glass windows allow for natural light, unknown in many of other remote spots. Unless you’ve booked a study room here, though, don’t plan on bringing a friend. This is a spot for silent contemplation.
The Trivia: Feldberg Library serves two graduate schools — the Thayer School of Engineering and the Tuck School of Business.
The Quick Take: Shhhhhhhhhh.
Kresge Physical Sciences Library
The Rundown: Every finals period, rumors of available seating in Kresge fly around campus. Renowned as the home of science majors and those needing to print lab reports before class, the physical sciences library still welcomes those from across the academic disciplines with its quiet comfy chairs, tables and personal cubicles. Kresge also has a number of computers, but remember to keep quiet, even if you are running late to class.
The Trivia: Kresge is physically linked to five different academic departments: chemistry, earth Sciences, environmental studies, geography and physics and astronomy.
The Quick Take: Hide away here when you’ve got three final papers and two days to write them.
The Stacks and the 1902 Room
The Rundown: Home of the diligent and the sleep-deprived, the stacks and the 1902 Room demand their own section of this article despite being a part of Baker-Berry Library. While they offer a different appeal — the stacks are prized for their solitude and quiet, 1902 for its constant access (it’s one of the library’s two 24/7 study spots) — both are home to the hard working, stressed and often hopeless. Don’t enter either of these study spots looking to chat with a friend, but pull up a chair if you need to power through some serious work while sharing the company of the somehow-still-awake.
The Trivia: Above each table hangs the portrait of an important figure Dartmouth’s history, watching over as you dive into your studies. One of them is named Craven Laycock.
The Quick Take: My freshman floormate: “I like to work in the 90210 room.”
The Not-a-Library Library
The Rundown: Even if this were a comprehensive list of the library spaces at Dartmouth — which would mean including the Rauner Special Collections Library (across from Sanborn), the Sherman Art Library (walk past the circulation desk in Baker-Berry), the Paddock Music Library (lower level of the Hopkins Center) and the Matthews-Fuller Health Sciences Library at DHMC, among others — it would still ignore a number of fantastic spaces outside of formal library settings. As you explore campus during the fall, keep an eye out for a space that looks like it might be good for studying and make it your own.
The Trivia: For a brief week during my freshman winter, I studied exclusively in the math department’s lounge on the second floor of the Haldeman Center.
The Quick Take: It’s impossible to name every one of the best study spots on campus.
