Don’t Skip Out on your College Library
A big reason why so many people struggle through college and ultimately fail out is that they fail to use all of their resources. There is a time and a place for partying and having a good time, but you still need to ensure that you are still thinking about your education. That’s the top reason why you’re in college. If you’re just going to college in order to party your brains out, then you might want to think about doing something else with your life. There is just too much money involved with going to school these days that you really can’t waste it at all. You have to keep your wits around you at all times.
What about your college library? Believe it or not, your college library can play a huge role in your success.
1. Quiet Place to Study
If you’re finding that your college dorm really doesn’t lend itself well to a study haven, you have to go somewhere else to get the quiet that you deserve. Some college students feel bad that they have to seek out other places to study. Get over it! You will need to do whatever it takes to get what you want, when you want it, and where you want it. It’s your money going into this education, so why not take it to the next level?
You’ll find that your college library actually gives you quite a nice place to study. You won’t have to sit and hope that everything is just going to connect itself together. You will do better studying at the library because it’s a traditional quiet zone. It’s not something that ends up costing you big time right from the start — it’s something that benefits you from start to finish. Why not check out your college library? It might not have very long hours, but you never know until you check it out!
2. A World of Information
There’s a world of information waiting for you, right at your fingertips. Audiobooks? Got them. Projector rentals? Got it. You have tons of goodies hiding within the walls of the library. You can’t tell yourself that you won’t have resources waiting for you at the college library. Many colleges put a lot of money into outfitting the library with everything that students need. There are even databases that the students can use as long as you have your name / email address (college address). That’s really what you need to do, and it’s so easy that you really owe it to yourself to go to your library for this benefit alone.
3. Professional Help
Remember that there’s a librarian there to help you. They have majored in a body of study that has a huge research emphasis. So don’t underestimate what the librarian can do for you. There’s plenty of stuff that can go on here. If you’re preparing for your thesis, just know that you are definitely not the only student that the librarian has helped out. They can even look at what you have already researched to see if the sources will actually hold up. A lot of college students don’t think about the quality of the references they cite, which ends up costing them valuable points in individual essay assignments.
You might be nervous about asking the librarian, because you don’t want to end up looking silly. They have heard just about every question that you can think of, so don’t be shy!
4. Tons of Books
This might be obvious, but there are tons of books available to you at the local library. You just need to see what’s waiting for you. Checking out book from the library can save you a lot of money. Textbooks are expensive and some of them are not required or, even though your instructor will say they are, you well know that only pages 142-148 will actually be used. Be smart about which books you purchase: the “required” book for that elective class about history of Rock ‘N’ Roll can definitely be borrowed from the library to where it must return since its knowledge will not be useful for you to become a doctor. However, your anatomy book for A&P class is a must and it will be used a lot during the entire semester (or even more), so that is a good one to invest on. If you believe you don’t have use for it afterwards, selling textbooks online for cash is always a lucrative choice.
Not all books will be available to check out, but you can still look through those and even photocopy the pages that you need.
Photocopies will be fairly inexpensive, since everybody is sharing the cost. This can be a great way to get more space to take notes instead of feeling like you have to memorize everything.
5. Inter-Library Loan
One thing that people skip over would have to be the inter-library loan. You don’t have to necessarily use it all the time, but what if there’s one book that you just have to have? A lot of people skip over ILL, but it’s a powerful resource that’s only found in the library. You have to know where to go to get the information you need, and the books you need as well. Would you rather drive to the next library over, where you have to fight to get a library card? That’s something that can be pretty problematic. However, if you’re going to actually need books from another library often, your college library can handle the ILL for you. It’s completely free, which is another perk. If you were to have to buy all of your resources from the bookstore or even online, you would have trouble affording everything.
These are just a handful of benefits that go along with the local library. If you’re really serious about getting things done with your college education, you have to make sure that you hit up the college library. It’s part of your student fees, so why not take advantage of it?
