Liblog: Newsletter of the Mayo Clinic Libraries

Best Places to Study

April 28, 2011 at 3:42 pm Ann Farrell

The majority opinion might be that there is no need to go the library anymore since everything is online– you can sit in your office and access the New England Journal of Medicine or search the CINAHL database. Or you can stay in your pajamas at home and read your favorite newspaper online.  As convenient and as comfortable as that may be, the Mayo libraries find that many of our users prefer the library as a place to study and reflect.  This photo tour shows you some of the best places to study in the many libraries in our system.

Dr. Panupong Jiamsripong is a research associate in cardiovascular diseases at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. He finds that the Edmond Research Library offers a room with a beautiful view, with the space to spread out his materials. It’s quiet and clean, and the library staff is helpful.

Pamela Mumba is in the Clinical Laboratory Sciences program in Florida. She uses the Winn Dixie Foundation Medical Library, where it’s quiet and she can get some serious studying done.

In Rochester, the Great Hall in the Learning Resource Center has always been a popular study spot for medical students.  Who wouldn’t want to study in this classic space?

The Venables Health Sciences Library in the Siebens Building is another hot spot for students in the School of Health Sciences.

In Mankato at the Immanuel St. Joseph’s Hospital, Nickie Kranz, an organizational learning specialist, finds this spot in the library comfortable and quiet, and an opportunity to spend time outside of her daily work environment.

Plummer Library in Rochester is the largest of the Mayo medical libraries. It offers many nooks and crannies as well as group study rooms. Dr. Margot Barber, originally from Peru, is a Spanish Interpreter with the Language Department. She finds the study room to be comfortable and quiet allowing her to concentrate in preparation for taking the USMLE exam.

The newly renovated space at St. Marys Hospital Staff Library attracts many users, some of whom sit down at the computers to complete required education modules, others to review the current medical literature.

Dr. David Rosenman, a consultant in Hospital Internal Medicine, discovered the reading room in Plummer Hall eight years ago when he was looking for archival copies of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings. It’s become a favorite refuge for him– it’s peaceful and beautiful, and it radiates with Mayo history.

This patron at Franciscan Skemp finds “the library to be the best place to do homework because there are absolutely zero distractions.”

If you’re looking for a space where you can concentrate on your work with no distractions or interruptions (minus that pesky librarian taking your picture), where the staff are friendly and helpful, where you might have views of blooming cacti (Arizona) or swooping peregrines (Plummer), check out a Mayo library near you.

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