The library as the new place to be?

 The social life of a college student is typically busy and hectic, and more often than not you can see groups of eagerly chatting students all over the campus. Though in Tom Hiemstra's case, that particular place where he prefers to meet his friends isn't the sort of place that is usually associated with lively conversation and carefree social freedom.

Photo by Amanda Lam

Tom is a junior Chemical Engineering major at the University of Nebraska, Omaha.

"The library wasn't really a place I thought I could hang out," he said. "You think library, you think stuffy old book collection or some sort of hushed museum, not a place where you can spend hours just talking."

Over the course of his college education, Tom believes that he spent most of his free time in the library, as opposed to trendy coffee shops, school food courts, or even in designated recreation areas. Libraries in the past few years, have changed in that they are no longer just a book repositories, but rather entirely new entities. Referred to as library as place, the phenomenon has seen the role of the library go from a storage place of knowledge to an actual community, where people can go to socialize and relax in addition to study.

Tom noticed parallels with other more conventional hang out spots. "I work as the assistant manager at a local coffee shop and I see people in the library do exact same things in my shop. They break out their laptops, they rearrange chairs so they can fit more people at a table and they end up just having a good time with their friends."