It is either cliché or contradictory, but either way one of the places where I find perfect contentment is the library. Before attending college I liked libraries anyway; they are places where learning and entertainment come together. Though most people think of libraries as quiet places that has not always been my experience, but I don’t mean that in a bad way. When I think about being in a library, I find myself surround by the sound of all kinds of voices. In the college library I mostly hear students and library staff talking, though occasionally there are school groups that come in, or a student brings their child to the library to study. But mostly the sounds are of people are having conversations, asking questions, and getting answers. The conversations are not whispered; they are moderate – people are using their “indoor voices,” as we say to children.

The libraries of my childhood were “no food” zones, but the college library is different. Even when there are rules about food in the library, nobody pays attention. Where the libraries of my childhood smelled of books – a dusty but clean smell – the college library seems to be haunted by a variety of smells. The most common is coffee, a college student’s stamina staple. I would swear that I can smell whether coffee is decaf or not – it seems like full caffeine coffee smells stronger. It smells like determination and desperation. I have also smelled food smells as well – even pizza! That seems awful in a space intended for the protection of books and technology, but I get that people have to eat when they can. I’ve jammed a candy bar or a granola bar in my bag before to eat while studying.

The coffee serves a secondary purpose as well: to warm up its drinker. The library never seems to have normally regulated temperatures. In some areas I would swear you could store ice cream and never worry about it melting. Students who end up studying in those areas can be found wrapped up in jackets and blankets. Other parts of the library seem really warm and humid, almost like a sauna. I haven’t figured out what the ‘trick’ is to the library’s A/C, so I usually just come prepared with a jacket jammed in my bag.

Sometimes I end up using the jacket as a pillow. Some of the library’s chairs seem older than the library itself, and their cushions (when they have cushions) are basically useless. It’s hard to sit and study for an hour when your tailbone starts to ache. And those old chairs that have cushions are kind of gross. They have strange, unidentifiable stains on them, and the chairs smell musty and mildew-y. Other chairs are very soft and cushy and therefore dangerous for study: you get settled in comfortably, and it becomes hard to focus on doing homework. You just want to prop your feet up and take a nap (which I might have done before). Those chairs tend to be newer and still have a kind of new-ish smell, though it’s really a kind of neutral smell. There never seems to be a “just right” chair in the library, but I suppose that helps students stay on task!

Of course, in a space so heavily used by so many people, the space becomes a kind potpourri of scents – perfumes, colognes, food, the scent of cigarettes, the smell of the furniture – reflects the “potpourri” of people and their tasks. It can sometimes get noisy in the library, and sometimes I feel overwhelmed by all the smells and sounds. But mostly I tune it all out; all that sound and fury becomes a kind of ambient background to my tasks, and it helps me focus. I feel productive and safe working around my peers. It makes me feel perfectly content.