The Ferris Library for Information, Technology and Education (FLITE) added one amenity and altered another this semester.
New to FLITE is a meditation and prayer room. Located on the third floor in room 315, the room serves as a space for prayer, meditation and quiet reflection, according to FLITE Outreach and User Engagement Librarian David Scott.
“We were not aware of any other space on campus that fills this niche that would be open as many hours as we are,” Scott said.
As well as the addition of the meditation and prayer room, FLITE changed the hours of the extended study area due to budget cuts. Rather than being open 24/7, the area is only open during regular library hours.
“It wasn’t used a lot,” Scott said. “We did look at the numbers. There were a couple of nights it’d have one person in it. It’s kind of hard to justify paying staff to be here for one person or even no people.”
According to Scott, the extended study area was open 24 hours Monday through Thursday of midterm week and will be open 24 hours again during finals week.
Some students have positive feedback about the meditation and prayer room.
“Personally, I don’t think I would use it because I do that on my own time in my own space but for anybody that’s having trouble with tests, or having anxiety and they just need to go somewhere while they’re in the library and pray and just calm down, I think it’s a great place for them to do that,” Ferris radiography sophomore Mackenzie Williams said.
As for the extended study area, many students are upset with the reduced hours.
“I used it for group work,” Williams said. “Instead of using the study room, the extended hours were just easier because we met late at night. So it was really nice and convenient for everybody to go there for group work. Now we don’t have anywhere to meet, so we have to find somewhere during the day and it’s really difficult.”
Although Ferris undecided sophomore Maegan Neely commutes to Ferris and didn’t use the extended study area, she said that she knows people who did.
“I definitely think that a lot of kids did use it or they found it useful,” Neely said. “I don’t think that a lot of kids are going to appreciate the hours being cut.”