Planning Your Time

There are dozens of serious psychological studies and popular self-help books on the subject of time management. Most will say something about establishing priorities. As a college student, you have a full social life. You wouldn't be here, however, if it were not for the academic requirements that are placed upon you. Each semester you will take many courses and participate in many extracurricular activities. Each course and activity will make its own demands, and some professors and coaches seem to think they are the only ones asking you to do anything. This all can add up to a very busy schedule and little opportunity for sleep. These demands, however, are no excuse to wait until the last minute to start working on a library assignment.

There are good reasons, instead, why you should not wait until the last minute to complete a library research assignment.

REASON ONE There are only limited sources in the library. You are competing with hundreds of students, not just those in your class, for the same materials. This library has no limit on the number of books that one person can check out, so all the obvious books on a topic can be gone from the stacks. Professors often work with similar timetables, so library assignments often coincide. You will probably being looking for library materials when they are least likely to be available. If you come early enough in the semester you have a better chance of finding recent books on popular topics. This library is not alone in having a problem of periodical articles on commonly assigned topics being ripped out. Good time management will not make the materials reappear, but they will provide extra time to seek out other or additional materials.

REASON TWO Machines are too few in number, and they break down. As the library has increased the number of computerized reference materials, some students have become more dependent upon them. During the week before mid-terms and the last three weeks of a semester, the computer network often seems to creak along in its effort to handle increased traffic. Individual computers, used heavily, are more likely to break down. Print queues back up, and network printers stop functioning. These problems, in contrast, are often non-existent in off-peak hours.

REASON THREE Most things take longer than you think. Research is not quick nor easy. Basic to research is exploring the unknown. Inherent in the research process is the time wasted in finding lots of things you can't use or locating references to great sources that are not available. It is rewarding to be thorough, but being thorough takes time. Students traditionally underestimate the time that the mechanics of a research project will take, the mundane things such as typing a bibliography.

REASON FOUR Ideas improve with age. It takes time just to think. Some ideas present themselves immediately; some suggest themselves only after much reading and research. A final draft is always better if it is not also the first draft. If you wait until the last minute or squeeze your research into a few hours, you will not have the luxury to do your best work.

REASON FIVE Help takes time. For all kinds of reasons you might be frustrated in the library. You can sometimes lower your frustration by seeking out help. Reference librarians can offer great assistance, but they, too, are limited by time. Many reference librarians become frustrated themselves when a student replies with the fatal words, "but I need it by tomorrow."