When I walked into work today at 8:30, one of my favorite students (he’s tackling Agamben all on his own, and he’s only a sophomore!) was standing outside smoking a cigarette. We opened the library for 24 hour service last Sunday and will stay open until the end of classes on May 16, so I asked if he’d been here all night (most students aren’t up at 8:30 in the morning unless they haven’t been to bed).  He gave me the sidelong glance: He’ll be here for the next three weeks.

Every semester we open for 24 hours for three weeks, and every year students move in. They bring coffee makers and popcorn poppers, pillows and blankets, and all manner of controlled (and uncontrolled) substances. And every year we librarians gather about and condemn: They’re moving in! But is this such a terrible thing? Does it just mean that we’re succeeding in our efforts to provide a safe and welcoming environment for scholarship?