Chasity Gragg is no stranger to watching the sun rise as she sets her alarm for work.
She and some of her Alden Library colleagues work the night shifts, hers starting at 9 p.m., others at different intervals, braving the sometimes-steamy temperatures and arguably unpleasant lighting that the library has to offer.
Working Force
Since taking a job as a library associate three and a half months ago, Gragg said she has become what she calls a “creature of routine,” sleeping during the day and heading to bed to the sound of birds chirping that usually signals the start of the day for most Athenians.
As a self-proclaimed night owl, Gragg said nocturnal life was an easy routine to get used to.
Library associate Nathan Wolfe, a colleague of Gragg’s, recently returned to his post after a seven-week absence because of the birth of his second child.
Wolfe, an Ohio University graduate who begins his shift when the clock strikes midnight, said last week that it can be tough for him to readjust to a nocturnal schedule — especially when there’s an infant at home.
Luckily for his family, his wife’s job (she teaches at West Virginia University’s Parkersburg campus and online) permits plenty of flexibility and allows him time to rest during the day.
Still, working nights leads to some less-than-typical household dilemmas: how and when to prepare meals and put their kids to bed, for example.
“Usually, in the evening I will get up for dinner. It’ll be their dinner. It might be my breakfast. So I’ll help her get the kids bathed and ready for bed in the evening and then I might lie down for a couple hours before coming back here,” said Wolfe, from his post at the second-floor circulation desk.
Night Life
When Gragg, a 2002 OU graduate, was a student assistant at Alden Library during her undergraduate years, there were no overnight hours for students to take advantage of, but now that there are, she’s happy to help students at any hour.
“I actually really enjoy (the night schedule) because a lot of the help that I give people during the night, it’s at crunch time, like they really need help, so I feel like I’m really helping people,” she said. “You just feel more pressure as you get closer to deadlines.”
Some describe the nighttime scene at Alden as stressed, and others consider it calming — a place to hunker down with a good book (or required reading) and plug away without distraction.
This time of year, around midterms, Alden attendance spikes before settling down and peaking during finals week.
Library regulars tend to notice this trend as new students seem to emerge from the woodwork.
As a library regular, there is a sense of entitlement, and it can be annoying when students overcrowd a favorite place, said Helen Cothrel, a junior studying physics.
“When you go to the library a lot, it feels like your place to go, and when it’s midterm or finals time and there are a lot of other people there, it’s just like, ‘Where we you all semester?’” she said. “I get that feeling, but I’m not going to go up to someone and say something, because it’s a public space for everybody even if they don’t use it all of the time.”
The extra crowds don’t stop Katie Conlon, a sophomore studying history, from staking her claim on one of her favorite spots on the second or third floor, depending on her mood.
She’s tried studying elsewhere — Donkey Coffee & Espresso, 17 1/2 W. Washington St., for example — but has found a haven among her group of five or six friends that typically take to Alden for their late nights.
Still, the swell of people gets on her nerves at times, but she said the “lively” second-floor atmosphere keeps her coming back.
“After midnight, people kind of start to lose it a little bit,” she said. “It can be a lot of fun late at night when you’re with your friends trying to get your work done.”
Although some library workers insist the second floor Learning Commons is more collegial than zany, several students have spotted some late-night oddities that cause others to turn heads rather than pages.
Cothrel said she has bared witness to singers, sleepers and everything in between during her time in Alden, where she prefers to study in the stacks.
“Some girl was playing a whole playlist of Disney songs and sang along with it for about 20 minutes before a librarian finally came and told her she needed to be quiet,” Cothrel said. “She was very passionate about Disney.”
Just several days ago, she saw a student curled up under a table, sleeping on the second-floor carpet.
“When you gotta nap, you gotta nap,” she said.
Safe Haven
For many, especially underclassmen, the library is a place to go when roommates are doing just that — napping — or using their shared space for something other than academics, said Andrew Stuart, Alden’s assistant head of reference.
He said Alden is a “one-stop opportunity” for students who have trouble focusing in residence halls or elsewhere.
“One of the things we try to do, at least overnight, is to make sure that it’s an environment that’s conducive to students getting their work done, doing their studying — all that,” he said. “If you and your roommate have different ideas of what should be happening in your room, students may come here just because it’s a better place to study; I hear that a lot.”
Leslie Corbitt, a freshman studying middle education for math and language arts, is one of them.
“I get more stressed out when I’m at the dorm where I know there’s more things to do but I can get more distracted,” she said. “It’s almost like going to work. You go there, get things done and leave.”
Not for everyone
Still, some students choose to avoid Alden like the plague.
Although she is unable to pinpoint the exact reason she avoids Alden completely, Liz Doyle, a junior studying business administration, said she doesn’t feel at ease in the Alden environment and prefers to reserve a room in Copeland Hall to get her work done.
“I think Alden is kind of uncomfortable because — and I know this might be a stupid reason — but I never know what the temperature is going to be like … and when I’m hot and uncomfortable, I am more stressed and irritable,” she said.
Another problem Doyle has with Alden is the visibility.
“You can see what everybody is doing while walking around the library, and people can watch what I’m doing,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s just me, but that makes me feel uncomfortable.”
The library has won over some skeptical students over time, though.
Kyle Meadows, a senior studying outdoor recreation and education, said he only set foot in Alden a few times last year, his first at OU, but he has already been back at least eight times this semester.
“Everybody’s doing work; it’s not like it’s an awkward place to be,” he said. “It’s not like it’s a bad environment or anything, but I’m usually stressing (when I’m there).”
When students shuffle in and out of Alden at a rate that some say is too fast-paced for their liking, finding time to focus is a little troublesome.
Coming Together
But Cothrel said once the daytime crowd disperses and the late-night studying begins, a sense of togetherness emerges among library patrons.
“When you realize that you are one of those people that have been there for half a day, and it’s 4:30 in the morning, there is kind of a community feeling because it feels like you are all in this together,” she said. “You wouldn’t talk to someone there, but to me, it feels like you’re never in a library alone. It’s a nice thought.”
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