First semester this year, when the lunch bell would ring, students would often flock to the library instead of the cafeteria. Due to the collection of people crowding the entrance, the library stopped being a place of relaxation and began its journey to overcrowding and chaos. Media specialist, Steve Sapere, has solved this issue with library passes. 

“I usually sat with one friend, and we did talk, but the librarians didn’t like when we or the library got too loud for obvious reasons,” Lily Wardrip, sophomore, said. 

The library has always been a place where students can sit in a comfy chair with their book or simply sit in silence on their phones, listening to the soft music the librarians play. However, in high school, some students go to the library to eat lunch and socialize with friends. 

“Last year, I used to eat in the library every day at my lunch period. I did notice it get loud sometimes, but I was never doing anything important, so it never bothered me. I could see how it could bother someone else though,” Laura Gentry, junior, said.  

Sapere has come up with a way to help the growing popularity of the library during lunch times by creating passes students must get at the beginning of the day between 7:45 and 8:15 to use the library during lunches. 

“We created passes to better manage the space of our library. It’s everyone’s space, and we aren’t trying to make it harder to use the school’s resources, but it was getting out of hand,” Sapere said.  

Now, with these passes, the library can be used as a quiet place for people to do their work or simply use the space to relax during their lunch period.