Leavey Library — Local services in Los Angeles

It's honestly crazy that we pay so much to go to this school and there's only one library open 24 hours. The other libraries don't even have long hours -- they close at 4pm!! That is nuts!!! ALL of the UCLA libraries close at 10pm! It's literally so embarrassing.

If you come early, find a good spot and wear STRONG noise-cancelling headphones, it's alright but it's still way overcrowded, especially with freshmen. People are constantly being extremely loud, annoying, and immature. They also bring stuff like entire fast food meals, extra large pizzas, and jumbo boxes of oreos inside to share with their friends "for studying" when really they're all just acting like hyperactive children and making a mess. It may sound like I am talking about one specific incident or group of people, but nope. This is just the general vibe, constantly. With everyone. It's particularly bad the later in the evening it gets but there's never really a good time. You can almost never find anywhere to sit until you've paced up and down sweatily for 45 minutes.

I went to a publicly funded community college before transferring to USC and the library was cramped, but at least all of the students there were quiet and respectful.

Mainly it's just really disappointing that USC cares so little about their students that they won't even invest in allowing the libraries to be fully operational so everyone isn't crammed into one all the time. And if other buildings also didn't shut down so early and there were more third places for students to just hang out, maybe the library would actually be what it's supposed to be: A place to lock in quietly and get work done.

On the positive side, like all parts of the USC campus, it's extremely pretty. And has lots of books! And secret nooks and crannies!! I love libraries entirely too much to ever be stopped from spending lots of time in one, even if it's full of freshman whisper-screaming at each other through mouthfuls of pizza. Frankly, sometimes the unpleasant environment motivates me to get my work...

I spent much of my freshman year in Leavey. It's endeared itself to me, despite its habitual annoyances.

NOISE

The main drag is the noise. People chat, even carry on full conversations, here. Many people don't seem to grasp that it's a place for quiet, individual study. People generally go to the lobby to talk on the phone, although they'll pick up the calls while they're still around other people. There's a general lack of empathy among people studying - perhaps because we've all been frustrated by the interruptions before, we're inclined to pass it along to other people. You should probably listen to music or wear earplugs.

PEOPLE

Tons of freshman come here. You're likely to bump into a friend or two on a regular basis. This leads to spontaneous conversations, a nice break from studying.

STUDY SPACES

Leavey offers two distinct study spaces: booths on the second floor, and computers in the basement. Both have their purposes, but I generally prefer the booths. Bring your laptop and books and settle down for a nice marathon. You can and will spend many hours in a row here.

There are also group rooms. They fill up fast, so book early. When I went here you could book two weeks in advance.

AMENITIES

They've got decently fast Wi-Fi, good for doing research or streaming YouTube videos during your breaks. (Funny how those breaks turn into marathon binge-watching sessions..) I got into Far East Movement and Wesley Chan from Wong Fu Productions here, browsing around YouTube. Procrastination can produce wonderful results.

They've got copies and scanners - which I believe I only used once, to scan my passport.

They also have, imagine this, books! The selection is pretty limited. It's generally popular and current titles, as well as liberal arts books. If you're looking for a specialized publication, you can search online, but you'll probably end up visiting the Doheny bookstacks anyways.

TroGro nearby has you covered for snacks. I bought many a Goldfish to accompany me at my late-night...

Why food and drinks aren't even allowed, there aren't even any books in there hello??? Also a library without books why do u even call this a library bro, its just study tables copy paste across the middle, then copy pasted up 5 more floors.

Don't even get me started with the lack of IT infrastructure, there aren't even public computers to use bruh, you'll have to go all the way down to the basement and...