All Work, All Play: A Guide to Acing Your First Study Session in the Powell Reading Room
Design by Gabrielle Bantay
Image Description: A collage that says “The Powell Reading Room is Back” with some doodles and photos of the architecture
As if it sensed with mythic powers our midterm anxiety, the Powell Reading Room (PRR) has reopened to the public after two years of construction to increase seismic resilience. Although first announced to wrap renovation in early 2024, the university spent $11,781,917 in Spring quarter on militaristic police “defense” that stood by as hundreds of students were attacked. Do as UCLA does and consider it a minor hitch in the construction timeline! This means over half of the undergraduate population have yet to enter into the vast room– the brilliance may overwhelm a Powell-virgin unsure of what the legendary space holds for them. Be not afraid, a perfect study session can be achieved in a few simple steps:
Step One: Pay the Toll
It is a widely-held myth that access to UCLA’s reading rooms are free admission– just because there are no monetary exchanges does not mean there isn’t a fee at the entrance. As you pass the mounting arched threshold, you must make awkward eye contact with the security personnel within their plexiglass prison.
Pro Tip: Give them a kind smile to show that you are a gentle soul who recognizes their work.
Step Two: Curate the Perfect To-Do List
The best start to an effective PRR study sesh is a complicated and tedious descent into the html code of a Notion template. Trust me, you will create the most alluring to-do list you have ever seen – it’s miraculous what the human psyche conjures when it’s avoiding the task at hand.
Pro Tip: An aesthetic template is a great place to start, take the Autumn Planner by Alis as a foundation to your perf listicle.
Step Three: Pick Up a Good Book
There is a dreadful diligence that looms over students during exam week, one that makes all brain rot feel even worse than it usually does. Squandering such precious time is hard to justify to yourself; in reading digestible content, you give your mind a break without the guilt. Consider picking up any of the following during a much needed brain break:
- Magazines: Most Bruins neglect the magazine archive available just across the second floor. A mere crossing of the rotunda will get you to a small room where the library assistants sit. You may have to weave around them but this is well worth it: Pick up the latest Rolling Stone or Bust for a bite-size pop culture intake. It’s all the fun of X (formally known as Twitter) without further blue light strain to your eyes!
- Fantasy: There’s no better way to escape your current reality than to dive into another. Directly across the small room lies the sci-fi and fantasy sections, repping Tolkien and “Star Wars” and Dungeons & Dragons. Allow your soul to run free for a while.
Photo Captions: Magazines like Rolling Stone and Bust provide restitute from the scholarly content. If you can’t bear to read another word, grab “Gnomes”, a fantastical picture book.
Pro Tip: Look closely in this section for a large book simply titled “Gnomes”. The hunt will be worth it! Inside awaits relaxing cottagecore paintings and sweet prose all about the namesake. Nothing brings you back to serenity quite like a jolly gnome.
- Release the Crazy: You may be feeling such evoking emotions of stress and frustration that the only cure is to read about someone else going through something worse. Enter Big Swiss by Jen Beagin– easily one of the oddest and most digestible queer books from 2023. It follows Greta’s progressing obsession over a female client of the sex therapist she transcribes for. Witty, sensual and heartbreaking, Beagin weaves a wacky tale that stimulates the brain without wearing it out – perfect for exam week.
Step Four: Take Snack Breaks
Along with the unveiling of the PRR, the scaffolding along the west wall has also been packed up; Kerckhoff Coffee House is now easily accessible from the front entrance of Powell! This means there’s very little separating you from overspending at the Coffee House! A hot cappuccino will provide both comfort to cold and cramping hands whilst energizing you for another two wonderful hours in the PRR.
Pro Tip: Make sure you’re not too hungry – UCLA encourages small portions given they slashed meal swipes on campus to represent a mere $9 per swipe, only available between 11-3:59 pm on weekdays. Condolences if you have a class during that window of time, no food for you today! The message is clear; with a full meal from any ASUCLA restaurant costing an average of $15, UCLA does not believe in providing their students a full meal. So be sure to pack an apple from home or pay up!
Step Five: Embrace the Space
The PRR offers a range of seating options so that you can experience the space in a variety of engaging ways. This is key to a successful study sesh, promoting longevity in the grand room. The plush leather chairs parallel to the entrance invite you in; these chairs are perfect for listening to your most wistful playlist and staring up at the boundless ceiling. The patterns are alluring and often underlooked, given that most students fail to look up.
Pro Tip: The slanted reading tables allow for an ergonomic angle to watch “Fleabag” on your iPad. To really spice things up, be sure to sit with you back to the entrance so that all passersby may get an eyeful as well– especially during any of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s fervent sex scenes.
Step Six: Wind Down
Piggybacking off the previous step, the PRR offers secluded walled-off desks akin to those in Night Powell. This sets the scene for the study wind down, allowing you to process the work that you did, reconcile any confusing concepts or even realize that you accomplished nothing you set out to do!
Pro Tip: A private desk tucked near the bookcases provides the ideal setting for an emblazoned journal symposium on the incomprehensible actions of your roommates. Make sure you really get detailed with full names, time stamps and direct quotes. Expel the demons; let them live in the PRR.
Each step can be personalized to craft your perfect Powell Reading Room study session. Gratitude and appreciation are rarely felt on campus these days by the very students that keep the university a household name – the PRR’s opening reminds UCLA’s hardworking students that their work can lead to the creation of something just as beautiful and just as celebrated. Bask in this space you are a patron to; happy PRR reopening!
Works Cited
Brady, Elizabeth. “Powell Library to Remain under Construction for Seismic Safety till Early
2024.” Daily Bruin,
27 Apr. 2023,
dailybruin.com/2023/04/27/powell-library-to-remain-under-construction-for-seismic-safe
ty-till-early-2024.
Patel, Shiv, and Dylan Winward. “UCLA Announces New Time, Place and Manner Policies,
Limits Public Expression Areas.” Daily Bruin, 4 Sept. 2024,
dailybruin.com/2024/09/04/ucla-announces-new-time-place-and-manner-policies-limits-p
ublic-expression-areas.
