The Posh Place to Study

It's a Thursday night and the place is packed. Some students exchange sideways glances across tables, while others snooze in the corner. The place is the new Duke hotspot, but it's not Shooters or the revival of Parizade. Welcome to Bostock Library.

Affectionately described as "The Bo" or "Botox," Bostock Library opened its doors to the Duke public one year ago. Since then the library has generated new space for student intellectual and social activity. With the advent of Bostock, its five wood-covered floors, natural light, great architecture, and snug seats, students say studying has become a hip, happening scene.

Visits to the library are 40 percent higher than they had been the previous October at Perkins Library; and circulation is up 30 percent, according to library officials. These statistics have remained steady since the opening.

At a time when the Campus Culture Initiative is looking at how to better match students' academic life with healthy social activity, Bostock Library's success has importance beyond those numbers. Coupled with the achievement of the Nasher Museum of Art in attracting students to events and with the opening of the new Student Plaza, the new library is giving energy to Duke's efforts to provide students with the intellectual and social space they crave.

Facts about "The Bo"

* Total size: 122,275 gross square feet (includes the Perkins Tower)

* Collection capacity: 72,996 linear feet of shelving

* Open seating: 517 (includes the gateway and Perkins Tower)

* Computer workstations: 96

* Individual carrels: 87

* Group study rooms: 9

* Reading rooms: 7

"Every place in Bostock is what the Perk used to be -- big desks, open, communal study areas, rather than studying at study carrels," said Trinity senior Dave Schmidt. "It's a place where you can go to study but everyone can see you studying, and you can see everyone else. It's very social, but you can get work done at the same time."

Who knew studying could be so posh… or social?

Thomas Wall, associate university librarian for public services, had a hunch. "We knew that libraries have a role as a social space, and that they have to be conducive to many activities, both social and intellectual," Wall said.

University Librarian Deborah Jakubs added, "Bostock has been critical in providing opportunities for social networking. In our planning we sought to create a variety of types of spaces, from individual; more solitary study areas to group studies and big reading rooms. There is something for everyone."

With its multi-task terminals, easy computer access, and group study rooms, to name a few, Bostock is definitely the home to a variety of activities. "The open layout of the space is especially well-suited for human interaction and gathering as well as studying," said Trinity senior Tyler Green.

Students, both graduate and undergraduate, praise the social and intellectual aspect of Bostock. "Being around people who are studying cultivates a studious mood," said Trinity senior Haley Hoffman.

Tanya Kossler, a graduate student in biology, agreed: "No one likes to study alone."

Bostock's third floor, with its abundance of natural light, has become a student favorite. You can see students studying there, and at other locations within the library, at all hours of the day. "The push to have 24-hour library access came from students," Jakubs said. "We thought the library project would be successful, but we didn't expect it to be this successful. We hoped it would energize scholarly activity, and we have not been disappointed."

"It's not just how many visits," Wall said. "It's how long people stay. People used to come into the library because they had to pick up a book or look something up. Now they're coming and they're staying."

The Perkins Project, which spurred the creation of Bostock, didn't begin with a plan to create new library space. Some questioned whether new library space was needed at a time when information was increasingly available online. "The original idea was to renovate Perkins," Jakubs said. "But as we discussed what a library should be, we realized that Perkins was not built to be the kind of flexible space libraries now need."

"Bostock is vastly different from the former Perkins, which didn't encourage human interaction at all," student Tyler Green said. "It was more a space for isolation and intense study. Bostock has a different attitude, a different purpose almost."

With the completion of Phase I of the Perkins Project, Bostock Library, the Von der Heyden Pavilion, and the first floor of Perkins Library are now open to the public. The next step is renovation of other Perkins floors. For more information, click here.

Although Perkins' first floor bears a resemblance to the new Bostock, Wall said that Bostock's popularity is unusual. "Bostock offers lots of natural light and the sense of open space," Wall said. "Perkins, as nice as it is, is still a little darker and may suit different needs."

Bostock Library has created a new space not only for students, but also for members of the Durham community. Like Perkins Library, no university or photo ID is required at the door, and the spacious interior of Bostock makes for easy, user-friendly access. "That's one of the great things about Duke libraries," Jakubs said. "We are a resource for the Durham community."

Unsurprisingly, Bostock Library has also become a hotspot on Duke University campus tours, according to Wall, and first-year students, who live on East Campus, are also regulars at Bostock Library.

"A freshman student once told me that the library is where intellectual communities are formed," Jakubs said. "People sometimes ask us why we need libraries when everything is online; libraries are places students go when they want to do serious work, and be part of a community."

The communities created by Bostock Library are inspiring, indeed. Both socially and intellectually, Bostock is the perfect library for a school like Duke. "I think that the popularity of Bostock says a lot about the Duke student body," Wall said. "Students seek opportunities of all sorts for intellectual engagement, and Bostock has made that even more possible."