Shaking the rain off my hood, I made my way up the stairs of the library and into the study room I had reserved.

I caught the eye of my friend whom I planned to meet to study with as we made our way into the two-person room.

“I cannot believe it,” junior special and elementary education Whitney Mosier said as she plopped her oversized backpack on the ground.

“What happened?” I asked looking up and adjusting my glasses that had slid partway down my nose.

“Oh, nothing happened,” Mosier said. “But when we walking into our study room did you not notice three of the four group study rooms only had one person in them?”

I admitted I had not paid attention, but I continued to think about what she said long after we both began our work.

Mosier’s observation reminded me of comments other USI students have made regarding study rooms; comments such as it is not fair that one or two people can take up a study room intended for six or more people.

“Study rooms are intended for people to study as a group and discuss their work,” Mosier said. “It does not make any sense that one person can take a study room. Why do they need a study room? The rest of the library is full of tables they can do their work independently at.”

I could not help but agree with Mosier’s logic. I think the study rooms are an ingenious idea: giving groups of people a place where they can study and talk without disturbing other people in the library.

Yet, I think that luxury is being abused.

Recently, the USI library created a program called Book It. Book It allows students to reserve study rooms in advance so they know for sure they will have a place for their group.

Yet, the program has no way of seeing if more than one person will be using the room; creating a problem of a single person reserving an entire study room all to themselves with little difficulty.

In the words of my high school brother: “This is why we can’t have nice things.”

I disagree with that statement to the extent I think we can have nice things if we use them in the way they are intended to be used.

To put it simply, if you are planning to go to the library alone, be courteous and don’t reserve a study room if it is only for yourself. Save the study rooms for groups of friends who want to study together.

We have nice things, my fellow students. Let’s keep it that way.