Students and librarians alike are finding that more people use  Silent Study this year than in years past.

As librarian Virginia Alexander put it, “each grade has its own character,” and it seems that the particular variety of upper school students this year leans toward soundless work habits more than in years past.
 
Alexander describes this year’s sophomore class as “much quieter than last year’s seniors,” creating a much calmer and more focused environment not only in Silent Study, but throughout the entire library.
 
The librarians have taken pictures of the more crowded days and did an experiment in which they counted how many students were in the library and how many used Silent Study each period. 

The test was conducted during the week of Oct. 23, the week before first quarter grades were due. 

The librarians found that the amount of students in Silent Study is usually directly proportional to the amount of students using the library.

“We noticed that the kids like to spread themselves out,” Librarian Virginia Alexander said. “Even if there are only three people in the library they’re all in a different corner. So as the library gets more crowded, so does Silent Study.”

The most popular day of the week was Friday, with 60 students using Silent Study during the course of the day. 

The most popular individual periods were first period on Friday and Monday at break, both with 17 students.

Second period was the most popular with 48 students during the whole week while eighth period was the least popular with a fourth of that number.

Alexander noted that most of those students use Silent Study earlier to prepare for that day’s examinations, finishing homework due the same day or occasionally catching up on lost sleep.

“You’re not a freak if you go into Silent Study” said Christine Waters ’08, who recalled that in years past students were much more opposed to the idea. “People realize it’s a good place to work with no distractions.”

“More kids realize it is helpful rather than antisocial,” Lucy Singleton ’08 said.