Payton Butler

Contributing Writer

BE QUIET!

That’s all I can think about as I walk up the stairs of the library and read on the walls that silence is expected up here, no phone calls are to be taken and you are not to speak above a whisper. Curiously, I continued to make my way upstairs having no idea what to expect. There were never-ending rows of shelves, all decorated from top to bottom with books containing thousands of new stories. From The Young Team to The Killer Tales, from B-Boy Blues to Woman at Work, the variety and selection of stories, both true and fiction, seemed endless.

Traversing the perimeter of the floor, I discovered the walls were lined with smaller, individual desks enclosed in their own cubbies. Curious as to what was in the back corner, hidden from the view of any common person merely visiting the floor, I made my way deeper in. I accidentally found my favorite place on the entire campus; I stumbled upon a sanctuary.

There was a large oak table six chairs long, and small, individual couches decorated blue, green, and orange covered in complimentary polka dots. Against the wall towered a spruce, floor-to-ceiling bookshelf containing historically accurate replica ships. Much like its neighbors, the Fletcher Class Destroyer U.S.S. Melvin DD680 sits proudly on its shelf.

Kemp Library at East Stroudsburg University is what many would consider a crucial part of the campus. A library can be defined as a repository of knowledge and entertainment, a building eagerly awaiting a curious student to enter its doors and indulge in one of its thousands of books. Each one offering ideas, viewpoints, knowledge, and stories that are just waiting to be consumed, every novel is a window into an undiscovered world.

Kemp Library is no different, and the third floor is where you can experience all it has to offer the most. The back corner of the third floor is completely enclosed by shelves of books, it is my fortress of solitude. It offers a respite for focused study and easier concentration in a world where technology and electronics frequently rule and distract us.

The corner enables people to lose themselves in a quiet enclosure, free from outside distractions, and delve into whatever material they need to focus on. It allows one to simply take some time to be alone and sit in a secluded area, not to be bothered by anyone or anything. In my corner, there are tall, wide windows that overlook huge sugar maples and proud dogwood trees
that blossom magnificent flowers in the spring. It is a soothing view that is especially appreciated during spring final exams when every other aspect of my day is stressful and worrisome.

Typically, the third floor of the library, and consequently my corner, is fairly barren in terms of students. Libraries in general are seen as places for one to find seclusion and the ability to drown out the distractions of the normal world, but the third floor exemplifies this a hundred times. The few people that do visit the library on a daily basis typically tend to stay on the main
floor, where there are brand new Mac desktops and HP printers, where they can attend a session in the Warrior Tutoring Center and not have to worry about being a little too loud. The third floor has none of this, and my corner sees next to no traffic outside of the cleaning crew and librarian when it is closing time and they have to kick me out.

There is a great exception to this standard, however, and that’s the last week of the semester, the week of final exams. During this week, everything I love about my corner goes out the window. The library is packed. Each floor is at full occupancy from stressed out students trying to squeeze every last bit of juice from the apple that is lecture notes and YouTube tutorials

The top floor, along with my corner, are now the busiest places in the building. Every cubby is filled, and each table is covered in textbooks, folders, backpacks, half eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and every piece of evidence telling the tale of an individual has devoted hours
to doing the same thing in the same spot. My large oak table rarely has a seat for me, and each couch is supporting freshmen that needed a place to study. From frantic math majors solving integrals to art majors furiously making the finishing touches on their final projects, there is a buzzing hive of students who’ve gathered in the same place for the same goal. They have all settled for my corner of the top floor of Kemp Library.