Students double fisting Dutch Bros with blank expressions at 8 a.m. scout the desks nearest to the coveted outlets. Finals week brought many students to the Knight Library at all hours of the day and night, armed with laptops, chargers, caffeine and the occasional pizza.
During finals week, the typical library schedule goes from being open 24 hours a day five days a week with limited weekend hours to 24 hours a day seven days a week. It’s a jungle for the library staff that witnesses it all.
Evelyn Sagastume worked at the library during finals, getting first hand experience dealing with frazzled students. Sagastume works at the front desk and is primarily concerned with shelving and safety staffing.
“Safety staffing is where I walk around the library and make sure people don’t leave their stuff unattended,” Sagastume said. For the most part food is what’s left behind.
“People get pizza delivered here,” Sagastume said. “During finals week people just live here for a few days.”
The demand for books is also greater during finals week.
“People borrow books from different libraries and since it’s finals week and basically everybody is done with their final projects it’s just a massive amount of books being turned in,” Sagastume said. “The backroom where we make the shelves to put back on different floors, that’s really filled up with carts of books to put back. So that’s what we usually do for the first three weeks of the term, recovering.
The Knight Library was constructed in 1937. Since then the library has been renovated, expanded and updated. The Knight library is home to more than just books. There are exhibits, classrooms, a video production studio and dozens of other departments and services including a cafe to help sustain library squatters.
“Several people have ordered four to six shots of espresso.” Mari Boning said, a Daily Grind barista during finals week.
According to employees, the increase of both clientele and caffeine intake is evident at the end of the term.
“It’s usually busier dead week, Sunday and Monday of finals week,” Kelsey Consolo said, a Daily Grind barrista. “We sell a lot more Red Bulls and black coffees.”
The 77 year old building also has a significant virtual presence. Today you can like the Knight Library on its Facebook page, take a virtual tour of the library online and even follow @uoregonlibraries on Instagram, For the craziest stories, check the UO confessions page, which is filled with instances of alleged debauchery between bookshelves.