Written for The Argo by Kayla Lavecchia and Arlene Fourrien

The Stockton University Richard E. Bjork Library announced in the spring of 2024 that come the fall semester, the library would be closed for renovations. After receiving a $19.5 million bond from the state of New Jersey, the university planned to create a library common that extended to be a 100,000 square foot space. It has been estimated that this major project will be concluded in 2 years for its reopening in the fall of 2026.

The Bjork library housed thousands of books, dozens of privately booked study rooms, and had access to open study spaces where students could meet with groups for projects or simply hang out with their friends in a welcoming environment. Since the complete closure of this space, the library has momentarily “reopened” its doors in the C/D atrium and relocated their services to this space. Additionally, these changes have temporarily closed the Bean’s List — the campus coffee shop — and removed private study spaces for students. The closure of such a large library on campus has now limited quiet spaces in addition to accessibility to areas on campus designated for working and studying. 

A conducted survey demonstrates that of the responses, 45.8% of students are struggling to find new study locations due to the library renovations. Lauren Fonseca, an academic coordinator at the Tutoring Center, remarked, “[the closure] dislocated a lot of people […] It’s not just the staff and resources; students who relied heavily on the library are affected too.”

Commuter student Conor Wasneuski shared, “The temporary closure of the library has led to a hard time finding private spaces to study, requiring me to go off campus to find spaces as a commuter student.” This displacement thus forces students to find quiet spaces to work, but this often means leaving Stockton grounds, which is not accessible to many students that rely on campus resources. 

Stockton students in the polls believe that the place and scenery make a major difference in their studies, whether it’s quiet or comfortable. Marco Quinones, first-year student and commuter, said, “I struggle to find a place to study, and because of that, I lose time to get work done.”

Quinones used to take the NJ Transit back and forth from Stockton and after a long day, would get back at around 5 or 6 at night, leaving him a lot of time to study. So, with spaces being often crowded, especially during the midterms, he ends up studying late at home.

In regards to students utilizing the Tutoring Center as a study space, the Writing Center coordinator Eddie Horan said, “There happened to be a gap in scheduling for one of the rooms where there’s like an hour a day where nothing is going on in [the Tutoring Center],” but besides that, they don’t offer a ton of space for students to study all the time unless they are there for tutoring. However, Fonseca said they “don’t turn students away.”

Study spaces and where one studies also makes a difference in how effective and proficient a student can be in their work. Horan said, “There’s a lot of psychological studies that show that it’s best for people [to] have a particular place their brain associates with work.”

In addition, students have voiced their concerns about the library’s closure on an anonymous social media app, Yik Yak. Some of the expressions have been in regards to being forced to work in open access spaces, which are often crowded and can be noisy. These claims were supported on the public library instagram, @stocktonu_library, in a suggestions post asking Stockton students what they could do to make the transition period more comfortable. Students suggested having more quiet study areas in the temporary space would be helpful or having dividers for the tables as a way of blocking out distractions. 

The library service hours currently are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, and 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday. During these service hours, there are faculty and staff available who students can speak to if they have questions or concerns about the library or are seeking additional help on where to find spaces on campus.