A Quiet Place to Fill Your Head

“Make thy books thy companions. Let thy cases and shelves be thy pleasure grounds and gardens,” Judah ibn-Tibbon said in the 12th century, and I intend to find out if students at UC Davis follow this advice. The Peter J. Shields Library at the University of California Davis holds over two million books, providing an unparalleled wealth of information for students to access. While these resources are available at almost all hours of the day, some students utilize the library for other reasons. Whether it is simply a quiet place to study or a place to go to get away from an irksome roommate, the library has much more to offer than just books and the pleasant smell of yellowing pages. This is where I chose to conduct my research, a place that many students have turned to in their academic career, for one reason or another, and my goal in observing said students is to discover any patterns among the students themselves and why they use the library facilities, be it for research, a place to meet, or for a quiet place to think. Patterns among students may include race, age, gender, and if there is any correlation between these variables and their reason for being present in the library. There are obviously many reasons one would go to the library, so finding a commonality between the student and their reason for being in the library is the intent of my observations.
The first thing that one notices upon walking through the library’s double doors is the peaceful atmosphere. It is no wonder so many students choose this as their place of study, it is quiet and without too many distractions. There are also plenty of helpful members of the staff who are eager to answer any questions a student may have: where to find a computer to use, where the reference section is located, and how to obtain a book or research material that has been placed on reserve. As I set out for my first field observation session, I tried to keep in mind the information that I had obtained regarding conducting research using this method- that of the participant observer. I decided that I would be simply observing rather than participating, although I looked rather inconspicuous as I sat and wrote my field notes, seeing that most other students were acting similarly as they did whatever homework or studying they had set out to accomplish. While the majority of students sat at the large wooden desks with their materials spread out before them, some students preferred sitting outside in the courtyard, while others took advantage of other nooks and crannies that the library has to offer. Depending on the time of day, the number of students in the library fluctuates, as I noticed when I returned later in the afternoon to conduct the second half-hour observing session.
From my surveillance, I determined that there is a noticeably larger number of students in the library as the day wears on, leading one to assume that the number of students increases because less classes are offered later in the day, resulting in more opportunities for the student to travel to the library once their classes are done for the day and do any homework, research, or studying that they may have. More students present in the library have the consequence of a higher ratio of students per table. This unalterable side affect may be less desirable for some students, whose studying time could thereby be cut short since they are unable to have their own table. An increased number of students also results in a higher level of noise, another undesired side affect that may interfere with a student’s studying. People are more social at this hour as well, with friends or classmates meeting up to study together, as opposed to the quieter morning crowd, composed mainly of single students pouring over books and binders. One would presume that the morning studiers are there for an upcoming test or exam, possibly doing some last-minute cramming until the moment right before class, while at night there is a more leisurely atmosphere, studying without the sense of urgency that the morning contains.
One of the most striking things about the library is just how quiet it really is. While any other place with such a large number of students is typically noisy and rowdy, the library possesses an overwhelming sense of serenity, providing a study environment that may almost be too quiet for some students. After growing accustomed to having a roommate or roommates coupled with the usual noises that never seem to cease, moving to the library is a shocking change of pace. I noted this in my observations, more that students have the overwhelming respect and politeness to keep the noise level incredibly low, even when studying in a group or meeting up with friends. There are few, if any, places elsewhere on campus where one is able to encounter such regard on behalf of one student for the surrounding students, and while it is true that the library has a noise policy, most students go above and beyond adhering to said standards, cooperating with the general public to provide a peaceful academic atmosphere. Even those who have never been to a library know, perhaps by instinct, that you are not to distract or interrupt other students, and this is exactly what happens.
There were several perceptible trends among the students present in the library, such as age, ethnicity, and gender, but this was also dependent on the time of day. In the morning, for example, a larger number of students tended to be female, this possibly reflecting that women are more likely to wake up earlier to study, or perhaps that they take more classes that begin in the afternoon and have the morning free, or simply that they would rather study in a library than elsewhere. Another pattern was that a majority of the students present were younger, i.e. first and/or second years, correlating with living patterns, and motivation. Juniors and Seniors presumably live off-campus, and therefore would study and do homework in the privacy of their own apartments or homes, being that they have more personal space there than in a dormitory. My other explanation for this is that the younger students have more pressure on them, either from themselves or their parents, to succeed in school and make a good first impression. As far as ethnicity goes, without there being any racial bias behind this statement, there were a larger number of Asian students that I observed than say, Caucasian or African American. I mention this only due to the fact that it reflects the overall population of the university, not to support the unnecessary stereotype that “Asian students are nerds” or that they are innately smarter than any other student.
As for the afternoon to nighttime crowd, other than the increase in socialization and number of students, there were more males present than had been in the morning. This relates back to the possibility of them sleeping in later than females, or studying less in the morning than later in the day, (or the ever-present possibility of simply studying less in general). The one flaw with participant observation is noticeably apparent in this case, the fact being that without speaking to any of the students it is impossible to put theory to fact. There are many variables that are only determined after conducting interviews with the observed, variables left to speculation and hypothesizing. Reasons for being in the library, for example, I can only guess at, it is not always completely obvious from a student’s actions or behavior, it is nearly impossible to tell if they are writing an essay or writing a letter, for example, simply by watching them. Something as detailed as this would reasonably only be found out by asking a student, often an obstacle when conducting fieldwork.
This is one of the precautions that books on the various methods of anthropological research present, the fact that observation is left entirely to the interpretation of the anthropologist. Being that my research was conducted in such a manner, observing students in a library, there is much more that is left up to my opinion than say, watching a baseball game and having to come to the conclusion of how the game works, which is a more objective interaction. There is a delicate balance between not wishing to disturb people in their “habitat,” whether it is a jungle village or a library desk, and achieving an accurate interpretation of their behavior. Actually participating while observing is another difficult decision to make, while you may get a more correct view of the people or their rituals/attitudes/etc, by actually participating it is possible that you are actually altering a person’s behavior or the way things would normally be carried out. Another thing to note is that many anthropologists barter with their subjects, which leads one to the possibility that the people being studied falsify information or behavior, to keep the newfound income provided by the anthropologist coming in.
I cannot decide whether or not any of my personal biases were reflected in this research, although I was pleased to see more female than male students in the library, this was an aspect of the observations that was not left up to me to interpret, but merely to witness and comment on. It is possible that there were more male students elsewhere in the library during the morning hours that I was unable to witness due to the location I chose for observation, and it is also possible that some of the female students were in fact not studying at all, either socializing or doing work other than something school-related. The library also obviously does not reflect the number of students who choose other places to study, so the only conclusion to draw from this observation is that there a larger number of female students go to the library in the morning. The late afternoon crowd was slightly different in comparison, with gender being the most obvious difference, which many males will be proud to note that they too use the library in significant numbers. Again, several possible explanations exist for this trend, be it that more female students are in class at this hour, they already did their studying in the morning, or that males are more inclined to study later in the day.
Participant observation is defined as “a fundamental method of research used in cultural anthropology. It involves a researcher, or researchers, living within a given culture for an extended period of time, to take part in its daily life in all its richness and diversity. The anthropologist in such an approach tries to experience a culture ‘from within,’ as a person native to that culture might do” (Donohue-Lynch). My biggest complaint about the participant observation method is that it leaves so much up to the anthropologist to interpret. And while this is not always detrimental to the research as the anthropologist can be led to correct conclusions about their subject that they may not have realized otherwise, there are many biases that can arise on behalf of the anthropologist in this manner. In my case, there were many things that I had to conclude for myself, and that was only from observing students in a library, an environment used for activities that may seem pretty straightforward. Without interrupting students to question them on their behavior or actions, it is left to me to decide if a conversation is academic or simply social, or if a student is studying for an upcoming exam or midterm in a class when in reality they are not studying at all but doing nothing more than checking their e-mail. These are all very small matters in the grand scheme of things, thought matters nonetheless. My analysis would be rather off if in fact all of the students that I presumed to be studying were in reality only using the library for social means, while this may seem somewhat less likely due to the fact that the library has rules about the noise level, it is still entirely possible. Overall, observation gives the anthropologist a chance to put their knowledge to work, with the only precaution being that all biases or prior knowledge of a subject or topic be left behind when going forward to conduct research using this method.




Works Cited
ASHWORTH, P. 1979. Social Interaction and Consciousness John Wiley and Sons,
Ltd.

BERNARD, Russell H. (ed.) 2000. Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology.
Oxford: AltaMira Press.

DONOHUE-LYNCH, Brian. “Participant Observation” November 28, 2005.
< http://www.qvctc.commnet.edu/brian/partob.html>

ENNEW, J. Examining the Facts of Fieldwork. “Consideration of Method and Data”
“Critique of Anthropology” 1976.