Month: October 2024

Overall rating : 4.78

Comfort: 5

Electricity: 5

View: 4

Wifi: 5

Happy University Day! This is the day the 13th Chancellor of UNC, Lee H. Roberts, gets installed as Chancellor. After riding my bike by the heavily policed Memorial Hall (note: there are planned protests today by pro-Palestinan protesters) I descended on the Health Sciences Library to see what working there would be like. I’d heard that this is a great quiet spot, and right in the middle of the medical complex, and this library proved to be pretty great. Nice new furniture and carpet, task lighting, and plenty of places to duck away and focus. I was especailly enamored with the little white pods: they are facing the wall and probably a delight for introverts, they have power, task lighting, and a plastic screen surrounding the back and sides. The desk swings out and tilts back as well. They even have ottomans! Nice spaces, and there are maybe a dozen spread out in the basement. Make sure to to explore all the corners, there are several group-study places with excellent large lights above them. There are even some whiteboards on wheels that you can use.

This place is awesome, but in the basement there are no windows, so not much of a view per se, so I gave that a 4. However, don’t let that dissway you, it’s an excellent place to focus and get deep work done.

And on a personal note, I was born just one hundred feet away—back in the 1960s the maternity ward was just inside the emergency room entrance at UNC Hospitals, which is where the Health Sciences Library stands now (according to my mother!).

The Health Science library is open Monday through Thursday from 8am to 5pm, Friday from 8am to 8pm, and Sunday from 12pm to 8pm.

The inside view of my little white pod. Note task light and scenic view of the wall.

One of the hidden group-study areas in the basement of the Health Sciences Libary. Love the huge light!

Several of these little white cubes are in the basement of the Health Sciences Library

At the bottom of the stairs at the Health Sciences Libarary are some desks as well.

Visited 10/4/24, 9:00 am – 1 pm

Overall rating : 4

The entrance to the Art Library is located on the first floor of the Hanes Art Center, next to the Ackland Art Museum. Enter the building through the east entrance (facing Swain Lot) or the main entrance (facing Kenan Music Building).

The study space is nice and has impressive windows looking out over the courtyard. I didn’t find the downstairs particularly hospitable, I felt a bit like I was imposing, perhaps that has to do with I’m staff and considerably older than anyone there. I went to the upstairs and worked for several hours in a grad student cubicle, near a rarely found power outlet (my laptop seems to not hold much of a charge these days). The view was nice… but the carrels are older and tall, so they block the view of the campus. This is probably for good reason, to help the art history student focus on Vasari’s historys of the great Renaissance artists, maybe? Still, overall a nice place on a nice part of North campus.

The wifi was solid and I did get a bunch of work done. Not too many students before noon, as I’d expect on a Friday.

Comfort: 4

Electricity: 3

View: 4

Wifi: 5

First Floor

Second Floor

Outdoor Space

Study spot on the 2nd floor of Sloane Art Library. One of the few outlets was here on that pole. The carrels kinda get in the way of the view (this is both good and bad, imho)

Study carrel. Note obstructed view of chapel

First floor of Sloane Art Library. Nice desks and chairs, but lacking more power for my pathetic laptop battery.

The lovely outside entrance of Sloane Art Libary.