Library Battle Royale

“Calvin: I used to hate writing assignments, but now I enjoy them. I realized that the purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning, and inhibit clarity. With a little practice, writing can be an intimidating and impenetrable fog! Want to see my book report?
Hobbes: (Reading Calvin's paper) "The Dynamics of Interbeing and Monological Imperatives in Dick and Jane: A Study in Psychic Transrelational Gender modes."
Calvin: Academia, here I come!”
From Calvin and Hobbes: Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat by Bill Watterson

Apparently University of Warwick students love the library. It's really kind of sad, but since I'm in their number I'm not going to judge too harshly.
How do I know that there is a deep seeded love for some quality library time by many here? Tickets to an Adele concert are less coveted than a desk in the Library!

The key to successful spot grabbage is arriving between 9-10am. If you succeed in dragging yourself out of bed and get to the bus stop by just after 9 (earlier than that and you'll have to watch several already full buses pass by and that's just depressing) then you have a little time to enjoy coffee with friends in the Library Cafe Extension and up to your chosen floor while still having the chance to sit in the same row as your friend(s).
As noon approaches heads start to fill the rows of desks that march their way down the library. Here and there spots remain vacant. There is a steady ebb and flow of students. Some coming, some leaving, and some getting up to find a book that they hope has been shelves properly (not always the case, so it can be a real crap-shoot).
You are driven to eat lunch - by hunger and a desire for distraction - around 1 or 2. You have to be strategic about what time you go down or you'll have to wait in a long line for food as well as for a table; this is usually done by hovering around people who look like they are almost finished. Lunch always lasts a while, not because you eat slowly but because you really don't want to go back to work, but you can't go home yet. Finally some sop suggests that you should get back to work (sometimes that poor sop is you).
When you return to your seat (where you left your laptop, even though you've been told to take all valuables with you, so that no one steals your spot), if there was a spot in your row when you left, it's probably gone by now. By 2pm the Library becomes a real dog eat dog place. No spot on the lower floors is left empty. People begin wandering down the aisles - their steps quickening, heads craning - trying to identify if a desk is available or the person has just "stepped away" for a moment. If someone leaves, their seat is snapped up within minutes.
My favourite place to sit is in the final row. When I'm bored with whatever I'm doing I just glance up and watch the hopeful students bob and weave around each other in the single lane that serves as passage between the desks and the metal bookshelves. They spot a potentially empty spot, perk up and quicken their steps. Hope springs eternal - but no, there's a jacket on the chair and a laptop on the desk. The search must begin anew.
The hands of the clock move slowly around its face. Soon one hand points strait up, the other down. Less and less people are seeking study space. More and more chairs are left vacant. Dinner is calling. Again the buses bypass people waiting at the stops because they are beyond capacity.
By 7 only the diehards are left. Most are unable to focus and find themselves spending more time on Facebook than writing their essay.
This is only term two - I've heard that in term three (when the library stays open 24/7 and most students just have essays due and exams to sit) that finding a space is akin to finding the Holy Grail - a mythical endeavour which many don't believe is possible.
I think I'll go to the Coventry University Library (I can get a day pass). Rumour has it that that place is always empty.