TO BOSTOCK, WITH LOVE

When you finally make your way to the library to clinch your title as a Blue Devil badass with all the unofficial graduation requirements completed, you head straight to your lucky couch in your favorite corner of the stacks.

That couch got you through problem sets, organic chemistry study sessions and, most importantly, the real T?Reqs. That corner always provided just the right balance of sporadic social distraction and deathly silence (though you're praying for neither tonight) for your academic success. Now it looks like an auspicious space for your last venture, this one of a decidedly adult nature.

Unless, of course, someone has settled into your couch for a long finals review of mechanical engineering formulae. How could you possibly forget to leave a stack of books on it, ensuring it would be yours whenever you felt like returning? Despite being a library rat, you're at a loss as to where to go. This has always been your spot.

Senior Jennifer Burk would suggest the old stacks of Perkins Library. "The levels" are the only place in the library without surveillance cameras, she says. So if you're looking to avoid an incredibly awkward introduction with a security guard, the levels are your new favorite place. Or hotspot. Whatever you call it.

However, if you're just looking for an extremely secluded (aside from the occasional couple) cubicle hotspot to write your thesis in three days, the levels are also where you belong. If you find the ideal atmosphere for concentration, you could become one of the Dukies loyal to a single seat in the library.

"A lot of people have a strict regimen," says junior Priyanka Kanakamedala. "They're just doing what they know works for them."

Don't take that the wrong way.

Lilly Library, Left Side

"On second and third floor Bostock, people will kill you if you drop a pencil," says Burk, a self-dubbed "fan" of the second floor.

Sally Sullivan, a junior, hasn't killed anyone-yet-but she does admit to a level of protectiveness when it comes to the Carpenter Reading Room on Bostock's third floor.

"My friends and I often jokingly get mad when someone has taken our 'spot,'" she writes in an email.

She adds, however, that her frustration with seat thieves has has been known to reach a tipping point.

"I am extremely annoyed when the library becomes so popular during exams because then it becomes a stressful rather than a relaxing place for me, and it is very difficult for me to get the spot I like," she says.

Prior to getting involved with the back table in the reading room sophomore year, Sullivan was spending a lot of time with a very special table in Lilly. Breakups are always hard, but for one year now, she has marched to the back of Carpenter nearly daily to study at one of six favored seats.

"I prefer the very back table because there's lots of light and I feel more secluded back there," she writes. "I need a table."

Sullivan, like many students, will take measures to protect that spot, including rolling out of bed early during midterms and finals.

Senior Anne Meyers says you can try the early bird routine, "but then you still can't get past those people who have been pulling all-nighters and are still there." In spite of her library love, she hasn't been tempted to beat 'em by joining 'em.

Perkins, Third and Fourth Floors

Kanakamedala usually has no trouble returning to her area, the third and fourth floor Perkins cubicles, early in the morning. She employs an additional tactic to discourage other would-be cubiclers.

A stealthy maneuver she learned from a few other territorial library goers is book abandonment. By carefully placing a few textbooks in one's cubicle, the impression of a brief absence is given, whereas Kanakamedala and her cohorts are in fact in their beds sleeping away the wee hours of the morning. But, "only for a few hours," she quickly adds.

"I guess it's good for [us] but kinda crappy for everyone else," she admits.

Meyers is appalled when she hears of this tactic. She says she would never leave possessions (at the end of the back table near a window on Bostock first floor) for longer than it takes to grab a bite to eat.

Perkins, First Floor

Unofficially the coolest place to be seen with a book in hand, the scene of Old Duke and Duke Royale parties, and as close as anyone can get to coffee and delectable treats: Perkins' first floor is not plagued with angry stares or shush-ing, and there is always a friend to watch your spot for a while.

That's why senior Ashley Gildin frequents the area many a night after dinner. Though her library time has faded this year, she still prefers the same place when she does hit the books. Gildin says this is her 'spot' because of its popularity.

"It's sociable. It's quiet, but there's some distraction and a lot of my friends usually sit there," she explains.

Perkins, First Floor, Behind the Circulation Desk

When it gets too sociable, some picky scholars run to the circulation desk in an attempt to get last-minute study rooms. Burk and her work-study coworkers get to deal with these enthusiasts.

"People like to have a table to themselves," she says. But study rooms are strictly on a first-come, first-served basis. Meanwhile, library employees have a favorite spot to which most students are oblivious. Last year, Burk discovered the secret joy of library employees in the room behind the desk.

At a single table, seven students cram away in a friendly, secret atmosphere and they don't even have to save their spots. No word on whether the graduation requirements have made it to this stealth location.

Of course, calling "super seat saver" in Bostock may not be all that outrageous.

"Many of my friends also have similar library habits at other schools, so I would definitely say it is a trend that is found nationwide," Sullivan says of her singular devotion to Bostock.

Furthermore, she thinks Duke is more fun.

"I certainly think Duke students, myself included, believe that we are better partiers than students at Ivy-League schools...intelligent but never stodgy. Fun-loving but not completely crazy."

But what level of "library freak," as Meyers puts it, is completely crazy? Beyond sociability, accessibility, temperature and decibels, Meyers says there are other factors in finding your optimum location: superstition and vibes.

"If you get good vibes from a certain spot, then you really should try to take advantage of that," she says. She isn't embarrassed about her very specific and sometimes irrational preferences and she thinks average Duke student is equally focused, no matter how many rules or laws they break to fulfill the Univeristy graduation requirements.

"I don't actually think we're secretly a bunch of nerds. I think we're just a bunch of nerds. The same guys who are yelling 'Shout' at Tailgate are holed up at the library on Sunday afternoons. The play hard is obvious, but the nerdiness is also obvious."