Throughout this semester, there have been an increasing number of complaints that Seton Hall’s Walsh Library’s fourth floor isn’t living up to its “quiet floor” title.
The third and fourth floors of the library are “permanent quiet study areas,” according to the University libraries website. Each floor gets quieter as the floor levels increase.
The fourth floor’s title isn’t lost, but the library has uses beyond just studying. It is often used as an intermittent sanctuary between classes for commuters, but it’s hard not to notice the occasional conversation piercing through the silence of the fourth floor. There is a growing conversation about it’s grown louder despite it being the quiet study floor.
Kelis Bragg, a senior IT management major, commutes to campus most weekdays. While she doesn’t use the individual desks on the fourth floor, study rooms are her go-to place on campus to catch up on work between classes.
“With the Starbucks, Jersey Mikes, and pool tables, it’s hard to get work done in the UC [University Center],” Bragg said.
While it’s not too common for people to talk openly on the fourth floor, she said she found that students in study rooms underestimate how far their sound carries. Occasionally, when booking study rooms on the fourth floor, she’s heard the echoing conversations of neighboring study rooms.
“It can be distracting in the sense that when you’re in a study room, you don’t expect to hear others’ conversations,” Bragg said.
From her perspective, people have been talking on the fourth floor throughout her years at SHU. While it isn’t a new issue, the increasing number of incoming students and commuters puts strain on campus social spaces, leading more people to use the library as a place to relax and socialize. This hasn’t directly affected her ability to get work done, as she uses her headphones to block out distractions.
She also pointed out that upholding the silent floor policy rests mostly on the students, as the quiet floor policy isn’t regularly enforced by the desk attendants.
“If other people are too loud, it’s up to you, and that could be hard for some people who aren’t confrontational,” Bragg said.
With the quiet policy self-imposed, students need to be mindful of their volume on their own discretion, especially in these shared spaces. It's up to each student to advocate for themselves in the moment, rather than asking others to be quieter and then being frustrated.
Solution-wise, Bragg either uses her noise-cancelling headphones or, if conversations are too loud, she goes to the desk attendants as a last resort. Bragg noted that “being too loud” is subjective to each student, which is an important aspect of this problem. Many students using study rooms don’t recognize the volume of their conversations or how they carry into neighboring rooms.
Optimistically, the library’s first-floor renovation will provide an additional social space for students. Bragg found out the first floor was open to students through her roommate, and said that the fourth floor could be quieter if more students knew it’s open.
“I think the first floor isn’t talked about enough,” Bragg said. “Nobody really goes down there because many people still think it's under construction.”
Natalia Panciello, a freshman education major, and Sofia Patrone, a freshman history major, frequent the library. While Panciello commutes and Patrone dorms, both use the library’s second floor and book study rooms when they need to concentrate.
Patrone noticed more noise distractions on the third floor than on the fourth, but she said “it depends.”
“Sometimes you have to ask people to quiet down,” Patrone added.
Both Panciello and Patrone find it hard to find a median between the social floors and the quieter ones, as Panciello experiences occasional distractions on the third floor as well.
“Sometimes it gets a little loud to study,” Panciello said. “There is no in-between on the third floor.”
Both Patrone and Panciello also addressed the self-imposed aspect of the quiet policy. In terms of a solution, they said students should just respect the quiet policy and move to the first or second floors if they want to socialize.
Like Bragg, they both use noise-canceling headphones while they study, adding that the occasional conversations on the fourth floor quiet down before they need to ask them.
While they acknowledged the issue, both Patrone and Panciello said the growing complaints about the noise on the fourth floor don’t affect how they study, as they see it as more of an occasional annoyance than a developing issue.
Additionally, Madelyn Herzer, a freshman biology major, consistently uses the library throughout the year and enjoys studying on the second floor to work alongside friends between classes, as the second floor is considered the most social floor.
While the noise varies, the conversations on the social floors doesn’t impede her work.
“It fluctuates throughout the day,” Herzer said.“If you come in the morning, it’s pretty quiet, but it gets a bit chaotic around lunch.”
Using the social floors for intermittent work throughout the day, she stresses that the contrast between the social floors creates a space where you can talk to your friends without interrupting others.
When asked about the renovation, she said she preferred the second floor for group study.The biggest change she would appreciate is adding more tables.
It’s everyone's responsibility to be mindful of the students who use the library to study, and students can all do their part to honor the “quiet floor” policy by moving to the social floors or saving rant sessions for the University Center.
Tiffany Clay is a writer for The Setonian’s Features section. She can be reached at tiffany.clay@student.shu.edu.
