Finding your place in Pilks

January marks a change in Loughborough’s environment. Talk of missed lectures, nights out and horrific hangovers is replaced with all-nighters in Pilks, deadlines, exams and angry engineers listening to English students moan about their work load.

The library becomes busier than Saturday night Echos and even the kid who never went to a lecture this semester wants to get in on the act. So if you’re wondering what your choice of area in the library says about you, here’s your answer…

Level 3

The area you are initially greeted by on entering the library, level three, undoubtedly sees the most excitement.

The people in this area tend to be the ones fooling themselves that they work well in a loud environment with all their pals. You’ll find them scrolling through Facebook and twitter, telling the world about their library experience via Snapchat and frequently taking trips over to the vending machines and café.

The lax rules in the area (you can eat, drink and talk to your hearts content) means that this becomes the social hub of the library, replacing going out during the exam period.

These are the people that are most likely to get to the night before their exam/deadline and realise that the hours and hours they’ve spent in the library could just have easily been spent in bed watching Netflix.

Level 4

The second least serious kind of people will head to the level above, in to the orange section.

Possibly having spent a few days on level three, they begin to panic and realise they need to up their game. They will probably take a fair while to settle down, tending to stop and talk to numerous friends on their way to their desk and will later find multiple reasons to get up and have a walk around.

These people are there to work but the social aspect is still drawing them in.

Having moved up from level three, they are not quite ready to be silent or to be removed from their friends but a quieter environment and a separator between desks means they are starting to be a bit more serious.

The Greenhouse of Silence

Directly next to the orange section on level four is the Greenhouse of Silence.

This is where the fairly serious people will go, they probably do a taxing degree and have a lot of work but yet can’t bring themselves to be entirely removed from the main bulk of library-goers.

They are usually still putting a bit of thought in to their appearance, aware that they will be seeing quite a few people during their stint in the library. Their choice of area allows them to frequently escape the silence and go for a chat with their friends in the nearby orange section.

They are usually seen roaming around level four talking to people, putting off their return to isolation for as long as possible.

The Dungeons

And lastly, for only the most serious of people, levels one and two offer you The Dungeons.

The inhabitants of this miserable area have no interest in socialising, they are there to work and nothing else. This is where you are most likely to see someone hunched over, head in hands and despairing or fast asleep on their desk having pushed themselves one hour too far.

The mere thought of the dark and cold area is enough to bring the less serious library goer out in cold sweats. Unlike those in the other areas, receiving snapchats from the people in this section is unlikely, they have much more important things to do than try to entertain you.

Although they may occasionally resurface for food or caffeine, during exam period it is best to steer clear of these dungeon dwellers until at least February.

Do not disturb