You may end up spending more time atfriends’ and acquaintances’ dorm parties than in the library your first few weeks at Dartmouth, but it’s still important to know the basic study spots once the term picks up momentum, and to have a few tricks up your sleeve for those times when everything’s full (read: finals).
Everyone has a slightly different preference for studying: crowded and chatty corridors, dead-silent Neo-Georgian libraries, ultra-modern science buildings, a grassy knoll or absolutely anywhere you can blast Sleigh Bells through your headphones, but it’s still worth trying out the full barrage of study spots the College has to offer.
Berry Library
Thenew,architecturallybizarreadditionat the back of Baker-Berry Library, this salute to all things modern doesn’t exactly give with the ancient and dark corridors of the Stacks or the daily teatime at Sanborn House next door, but it’s possibly the largest single study spot at Dartmouth. The crowded and chatty First-Floor Berry (FFB — learn that acronym right away, and not, like some of us, halfway through winter term) may not be the best place to get actual work done, but it is the best spot to remind everyone else that you’re getting work done, so that’s a huge mark in its favor.
Upstairs, you’ll find the Jones Media Cen- ter, a bastion for all film and media studies majors and a vague curiosity for the rest of campus. Recently renovated (it’s been closed for most of the past year), it boasts a large array of computers outfitted with the latest film and image software, so Photoshop lovers, rejoice! Berry’s third floor (3FB) and fourth floor (4FB) provide numerous study spots, but beware: these fill up in finals like nobody’s business. The bookable study rooms at the floors’ edges provide an ideal space for group projects and a decent view onto Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity’s roof, so we’ll call that a win-win.
Below FFB is Novack Cafe, a place beloved by residents of Webster Avenue and the McLaughlin Cluster that you will otherwise only visit for group projects and Greek-sponsored bake sales; which of those is more important is up to you (pro tip: it’s the latter).
The Takeaway: Has something for everyone, and snacks are easily available.
Baker Library
Berry’s old Georgian cousin with a de- pressing posterior, Baker is the towering monolith overlooking the Green in front of which there is a roughly 255 percent chance that your parents made you pose for a photo. It is dominated by Baker Lobby, full of comfy chairs and couches and students getting absolutely no real work done. Baker Lobby is best used as a place to sample food from King Arthur Flower, not to do actual work, although if you enjoy working in the auditor y equivalent of a beehive, please take a seat and enjoy. Aficionados of KAF also enjoy the Periodicals Room, accessible through a side door in KAF, but beware: it fills up in about four seconds flat, so get there early.
Behind Baker Lobby, accessible mainly through the Berry side of the library, arethe Stacks. They’re quiet and conducive to studying, yes, but there is a deathly, self- flagellating quality in their use that makes them a bit of a bad option for those wishing to be reminded that light, life and joy exist in the world. Enter at your own peril. Baker Lobby is sandwiched above and below by two parallel halls. Below, the Orozco Room, a quiet and bizarrely hot hall appreciated most by those who enjoy renditions of American history in mural form, sits between side exists that lead toward the natural science buildings on one side and Tuck Drive on the other. Above, the elegant Tower Room with its Green-facing chairs and nap-taking students is popular amongst those who like to compare Dar tmouth to Hogwar ts.
There’s also the 1902 Room, which lies directly off Baker Lobby. Do not go into the 1902 Room if you value your sanity.
The Takeaway: Ideal for that one friend who thinks it’s still 1950.
Rauner Special Collections Library
To quote Fiddler on the Roof, “Wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles.” This oft-forgot- ten study spot is a hidden gem at Dar tmouth. Skip the main floor — no backpacks and a little too much chatter — and head to the spacious and comfor table upstairs. Blessed by views across the Green and Baker Lawn and onto College Street, Rauner’s second floor doesn’t feature the “no food or drinks” rule of the ground floor and usually doesn’t fill up at the same rate. It’s only drawback? The 6 p.m. closing time.
The Takeaway: Comfortable, quiet, and easy to get work done, but best for early risers.
Top of the Hop
The occasional risk of bumping into a couple attempting to fulfill the Dar tmouth Seven aside, Top of the Hop offers a massive amount of natural light and its piano means that music students occasionally serenade the other wise dead-silent area. The receptions hosted in the vicinity mean that free cookies and lemonade are often available. The outside patio offers a stunning view of the Green in fall, summer, and spring.
The Takeaway: Not too crowded and not too noisy, Top of the Hop is a quirky and fun study space away from the hustle and bustle of the main libraries.
Black Family Visual Arts Center
BVAC: a world away from Dar tmouth. The Black Family Visual Arts Center seems more like an urban modern art museum than a structure standing in the midst of the New Hampshire wilderness, yet there it is, right behind the Hop and the Hood Museum of Ar t. The seating in the atrium isn’t too comfort- able, but there’s a certain “Mad Men”-esque quality that comes to lounging around on the vermillion coaches, plus it’s right across the street from C&A’s pizza and Hanover’s token fro-yo place, so that’s a small victory right there. The art studio spaces and other facilities upstairs make BVAC a must for any budding studio art major or anyone just curious enough to take “Drawing I.”
The Takeaway: This is what you want your post-graduation New York City penthouse tolook like. It probably won’t, so you might as well spend the time here instead.
Collis Center
One Wheelock. The third floor. Common Ground. Collis is awash in all but perfect nooks and crannies for the student who wants to study in the thick of campus. With quick access to the Class of 1953 Commons, Collis Market and Collis Cafe, not to mention down- town Hanover and the Green, Collis’ study spots have a convenient mix of the isolated and quaint and the highly accessible and usable. Comfor table seating, natural light, and – in the case of One Wheelock — soft music set Collis apar t from the other areas on campus. Unfor tunately, the seating capacity is pretty low, so you better get there early.
The Takeaway: If you want to have a working dinner, there’s no better combo than Collis pasta and a jaunt upstairs to one of the third floor lounges.
Class of 1953 Commons
Be of stout heart and fear not the dogs of war (or, rather, studying), for you can sit upon a table in FoCo as long as your heart desires and study away, with access to un- limited food just a few paces away! Sure, you aren’t really supposed to just stay in FoCo all day, but, really, who doesn’t? Although best known as a post-partying bonanza, the FoCo Challenge is actually well-applied to studying. Popping into FoCo at around 10 a.m. for a nice brunch, setting up your books and laptop and lounging around throughout the day, eating as you like: It may not be the path to a flat stomach, but it is the path to happy studying.
The Takeaway: Food. Need I say more?
Sanborn House
If you catch yourself saying, “Gee golly, there I go again, walking into my rich old uncle’s librar y, silly me,” when you first come to Dartmouth, don’t worry. We’ve all been there. But it’s not your rich old uncle’s librar y! It’s Sanborn House, home of Dartmouth’s English depar tment and pur veyor of cookies andteaeveryafternoonat4p.m.sharp(asone Mr. Baggins of Bag End once said, “Tea is at four, but you’re welcome any time”). Liberal application of tea to the face when studying can help sustain wakefulness. Sanborn is a delicate, quiet space that plays host to the English Department’s annual Gatsby Party and other events; it’s exactly what a liberal ar ts college should be, but shockingly it’s not usual full and seats are generally available. If you can’t find a seat in the main library, there’s a vestibule downstairs by a fireplace and the Wren Room, amongst other little side rooms, that are often open. Fun fact: since Sanborn is so old, there are nooks hidden in most offices’ walls to hide alcohol, built during Prohibition. We’re not telling you that you should ask your prof for any, though.
The Takeaway: Old stuf f! Tea! Cookies! Prohibition Era hideaways! Silence and con- templation! Good novels! Those fun-loving goons from the English Depar tment!
Kresge Physical Sciences Library
The first thing you need to know about Kresge Physical Sciences Library is that you
should never, ever use the color printer there for something black and white. You will end up spending $10 on your end of term essay, and that’s not a bill you need for 15 pages of black print. Kresge isn’t the most interesting place in the world —– it’s sor t of like a typical high school library with a way, way higher budget. It doesn’t have a great view or pic- turesque shelves or social students gossiping endlessly. It is uniform in its determination to study without sinking to the life-abusing depths of the Stacks or the 1902 Room. This is the place to get work done for those who don’t want distractions but still want the impression that they are above ground and not being starved of light, air, and hope.
The Takeaway: For finishing term papers and major projects, and not to be used except for good.
Kemeny Hall and Haldeman Hall
Continuing Dartmouth’s proud tradition of housing totally unrelated departments in the same building (in this case mathemat- ics and international studies), Kemeny and Haldeman have an advantage over most aca- demic buildings: they boat a series of large, comfortable and vending machine-outfitted study rooms. While these spaces can fill up fast, they’re convenient for residents of McLaughlin who want to leave their own dorm but don’t want to walk the extra three yards to the library.
The Takeaway: Small, quiet and slightly dark at night.
Dorm Common Rooms and Study Rooms
A mainstay of studying for those who live in newer dorms and a strange curiosity for those confined to the College’s older dorms, common rooms and study rooms are ideal when accessible. They don’t of fer much in the way of resources except comfor table seating, but they’re close to many dorms (they are, after all, inside them) and frequently provide opportunities to socialize with floormates. Since these often double as social spaces, however, they can get a little noisy. They remain ideal for last-minute cramming and semi-social studying close to home.
The Takeaway: Truly a matter of taste, some love the proximity and optional socialization while others detest spending time with their floormates in any capacity.
Paddock Music Library
Buried in the dark, subterranean under- world of the Hopkins Center, this strange locale houses that most mysterious of Dartmouth creatures: the music student. Somewhat ironically, it’s dead silent. It’s also completely isolated from the mainstream ebb and flow of campus. Many students will spend four years of Dartmouth without knowing it exists, much less where it is (the staircase as you’re walking toward the Courtyard Cafe? Go down). It remains a decent place to do some quiet studying and a must if your ART distrib is a music course.
The Takeaway: Obscure and out-of-the- way, while this library’s design is straight out of the more boring parts of “American Hustle” (2013), it’s still a hidden gem of Dartmouth.
