Mandi Nelson
“I know the best places in the library to go to
when I need to get a lot of work done.”
Bio
Mandi is in her final year at the University of Michigan and has a completely streamlined
process of studying. She has go to locations where she knows she will be able to work in
different situations: studying with friends, studying alone, completing groupwork, or a mix of
everything in-between.
Image Credit: WOCinTech Chat
Age: 22
Status: Undergraduate Student
School: L,S, & A
Library Usage: at least once a
day
Personality
Introvert
Analytical
Passive
Extrovert
Creative
Active
She is constantly on the search for the quietest place to study on her own, and has become
annoyed that some of her previous study spots are now “infiltrated” with noisy library users.
Currently she mostly studies in the 6th floor stacks because she enjoys the quiet, the privacy
of the carrels, and the views out of the windows. If she is studying with friends she prefers to
go to the fourth floor of the Ugli. It is quiet enough for her but also a place with enough space
to study at a table with others.
It has been a while since she has gotten lost in the library because she has known paths to
her favorite locations that work for her. She will go out of her way to a resource she knows
(like a bathroom, scanner, printer) rather than try and search around for something that may
be closer. Since she got lost in the stacks as a freshman, she took a circulation desk worker’s
advice and now requests the books to pick up instead.
Goals
• Finish paper by 11:59 p.m.
• Find an open carrel with a good view
• Graduate with highest honors
• Get a job right out of college
Frustrations
• Noisy people in quiet areas
• Finding open study space with friends
• Overflowing libraries during exam times
• People in her favorite study spots
Niyati Chopra
“I love the convenience of the Shapiro study
rooms and the coziness of the Reference Room.”
Bio
Niyati is a first year Master’s student at the Rackham Graduate School, specializing in
Economics. Ultimately, she is hoping to leverage her Master’s degree into a PhD, so she
spends a lot of her time studying and researching in order to impress the professors in her
department. Luckily, many of her friends also spend a lot of their time studying, and often they
end up together in the Reference Room.
Image Credit: Bold Content
Age: 27
Status: Graduate Student
Focus: Economics
Library Usage: once a week
Personality
Introvert
Analytical
Passive
Extrovert
Creative
Active
A lot of her classes devote time to group projects, so she often has to juggle the schedules
of her classmates and schedule many group meetings in one week. Her favorite places to
reserve for group meetings are the group study rooms in the first floor of Shapiro. They have
windows to look out of, and she can have her teammates watch her stuff while she stops by
the cafe to get a snack.
One of her friends told her there is a connector between the two libraries, but she is not sure
how to get to it. Instead, she usually walks directly underneath it outside to travel between the
two libraries because she knows how to get to the Reference Room from that elevator lobby
entrance in the back. She has gotten lost before, so now she mostly requests books to pick
up at the front lobby unless she needs something the same day. It’s easier than ending up in a
floor that doesn’t connect to the other part of the building and having to retrace her steps.
Goals
• Schedule multiple group meetings
• Find a book she needs that day
• Get a GSI position
• Impress Department researchers
Frustrations
• Travelling from Hatcher North to South
• When the book isn’t on the shelf
• Finding the Shapiro study rooms full
• When a room isn’t on the floor plan
Daniel Gawel
“I really only go to the library for group
meetings or if it is the nearest coffee.”
Bio
Daniel is a freshman at the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology. He lives in the
Markley dormitory and does most of his studying there in the study lounge or at the School of
Kinesiology nearby. Once he is back at Markley, he doesn’t like making the effort to go back
down to Central Campus to study or meet up with others, especially when it is cold out. He is a
very outgoing person and usually can convince his groups to meet somewhere on Hill campus
If he can’t convince group projects to meet somewhere closer to Markley, he usually will text
a group member for directions to where they are and then just wander around the library floor
until he finds them.
Image Credit: Daniel Foster
Age: 18
Status: Undergraduate Student
School: Kinesiology
Library Usage: once a month
or less
Personality
Introvert
Analytical
Passive
Extrovert
Creative
Active
In addition to the textbooks he already bought, he mostly uses online materials. One time
his friend recommended he should get a book from the library, but Daniel got completely
lost among “a bunch of weird half floors”. He was pretty sure he was in the right place but
was confused by the decimal systems and couldn’t find it. He gave up and ended up using
something he found online instead.
When he has classes around the Diag, he does visit the coffee shop in the Ugli, but doesn’t
typically venture further in than the registers or the bathroom. Given his occasionally long wait
times, he is very familiar with the area immediately surrounding the cafe but nowhere else.
Goals
• Convince study group to meet on Hill
• Live on Central Campus next year
• Join a student organization
• Pass all his classes
Frustrations
• Library is far from dormitory
• Finding his group can be time consuming
• Call numbers don’t make sense
• Long lines at Ugli coffee shop