LSE Library Seat-Booking Service: Institutionalization of Laziness in Academia?
Another day sitting in the always-crowded individual study spaces in the LSE main library. There is not a single open seat in sight as dozens of students, in collective dead silence, pour over (or pretend to pour over) their study notes and textbooks to prepare for upcoming exams. Suddenly, footsteps are heard, everyone stop what their doing and look up. They notice a new guy walking into the packed quiet area, checking out something on his smartphone, and then looking at the seat numbers on already occupied desks.
Many of those students sitting down now look at each other, each with fear clearly in their eyes. They know what is coming up: the new guy...he is not here to LOOK FOR an empty seat, he is here to TAKE one that is rightfully his. As he continue to go around the area searching out that seat with his name invisibly carved into it, those students in their seats follow him with their eyes, pleading with the slow tormentor to spare them from the seemingly eternal agony of waiting...
Finally, the guy with the smartphone stops in front of a seat. "Excuse me, I reserved this seat...I am sorry," he whispers to the sitting student. "Oh OK, I mean, that's OK..." the listener reflexively jerks a bit out of false surprise and somehow manages to cringe his face into a fake smile for the seat's rightful occupier. All the other students sitting down collectively release a silent sigh of relief, knowing that they have been spared this time. They give a last look of sympathy to the unfortunate student who got kicked out of his seat, knowing that without a seat reservation at this hour, he might as well just go home...
And then, just as everyone attempts to go back to their notes and books, another guy shows up to the area looking at his smartphone, and the whole cycle starts all over again...Much to the dismay of most students, since the beginning of the summer term here in the LSE library, there is a remarkable increase in the amount of tension circulating in the air, not just from people anxious about their performance on exams, but about people simply anxious about whether they can sit in the same seat all day and concentrate without getting the little "Excuse me..." talk.
We already established the fact that LSE is a facility for mass production of diploma-wielding students, especially for those who are not from the UK, and are at the Master's level. The LSE library, established back in the days when the School was still a small-sized specialized institution of social sciences and have seen few (if any) expansions since then, is evidently woefully unprepared for practically the entire student body to show up to study during the May-June exam period. Demand for study spaces outstrips the supply by multiple times.
In comes LSE library administration with a "clever" idea: hey, why don't we allow students to reserve seats in the library for certain popular times days in advance? That will surely encourage only the most motivated, and thus deserve seats the most, students show up to the library! While whether what happened as a result can be considered high on "motivation" is rather debatable, the action was certainly out of self-interest. Students started going around booking a seat for EVERY single time period in EVERY day that the online booking system was open for...
And that left "zero open seats" online, lengthy searches for seats, and constant fear of getting booted out of where they are sitting, for late-comers. The library staff has revolutionized the very idea of "first come, first serve" in the field of academia. Those who first came up with the thought of "just in case I also show up on this hour, this day..." have hijacked limited resources, giving many with more flexible demands no guaranteed access whatsoever. Worse yet, some of those with reserved seats are not even studying in their "hard-earned" seats, choosing instead to browse news or watch videos.
Clearly, the online booking system is more BS than the "research" conducted by graduate students for their studies and dissertations. And if anything, it gives incentive for people to not clearly plan out their studying schedules, and resort to the sheer laziness of blocking out "potential" times for hard work. Institutions of higher education, especially somewhere rigorous like LSE, should be at least teaching students to be meticulous in their thoughts and behaviors. Allowing them to, often with an unsympathetic poker face, to kick fellow students out of their seats in the library is not the right way.
Many of those students sitting down now look at each other, each with fear clearly in their eyes. They know what is coming up: the new guy...he is not here to LOOK FOR an empty seat, he is here to TAKE one that is rightfully his. As he continue to go around the area searching out that seat with his name invisibly carved into it, those students in their seats follow him with their eyes, pleading with the slow tormentor to spare them from the seemingly eternal agony of waiting...
Finally, the guy with the smartphone stops in front of a seat. "Excuse me, I reserved this seat...I am sorry," he whispers to the sitting student. "Oh OK, I mean, that's OK..." the listener reflexively jerks a bit out of false surprise and somehow manages to cringe his face into a fake smile for the seat's rightful occupier. All the other students sitting down collectively release a silent sigh of relief, knowing that they have been spared this time. They give a last look of sympathy to the unfortunate student who got kicked out of his seat, knowing that without a seat reservation at this hour, he might as well just go home...
And then, just as everyone attempts to go back to their notes and books, another guy shows up to the area looking at his smartphone, and the whole cycle starts all over again...Much to the dismay of most students, since the beginning of the summer term here in the LSE library, there is a remarkable increase in the amount of tension circulating in the air, not just from people anxious about their performance on exams, but about people simply anxious about whether they can sit in the same seat all day and concentrate without getting the little "Excuse me..." talk.
We already established the fact that LSE is a facility for mass production of diploma-wielding students, especially for those who are not from the UK, and are at the Master's level. The LSE library, established back in the days when the School was still a small-sized specialized institution of social sciences and have seen few (if any) expansions since then, is evidently woefully unprepared for practically the entire student body to show up to study during the May-June exam period. Demand for study spaces outstrips the supply by multiple times.
In comes LSE library administration with a "clever" idea: hey, why don't we allow students to reserve seats in the library for certain popular times days in advance? That will surely encourage only the most motivated, and thus deserve seats the most, students show up to the library! While whether what happened as a result can be considered high on "motivation" is rather debatable, the action was certainly out of self-interest. Students started going around booking a seat for EVERY single time period in EVERY day that the online booking system was open for...
And that left "zero open seats" online, lengthy searches for seats, and constant fear of getting booted out of where they are sitting, for late-comers. The library staff has revolutionized the very idea of "first come, first serve" in the field of academia. Those who first came up with the thought of "just in case I also show up on this hour, this day..." have hijacked limited resources, giving many with more flexible demands no guaranteed access whatsoever. Worse yet, some of those with reserved seats are not even studying in their "hard-earned" seats, choosing instead to browse news or watch videos.
Clearly, the online booking system is more BS than the "research" conducted by graduate students for their studies and dissertations. And if anything, it gives incentive for people to not clearly plan out their studying schedules, and resort to the sheer laziness of blocking out "potential" times for hard work. Institutions of higher education, especially somewhere rigorous like LSE, should be at least teaching students to be meticulous in their thoughts and behaviors. Allowing them to, often with an unsympathetic poker face, to kick fellow students out of their seats in the library is not the right way.
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