By Hannah Herrlich, Emerging Technologies Librarian

The Walsh Library Student Lounge is now open for business! Walsh 108A is the new Student Lounge- An inviting environment for students who want a place to relax, get away from their books for a while, read their books for a while, enjoy a coffee, or simply ponder life, the universe, and everything. Now, we know what you’re thinking. “A student lounge in a library? Is this some kind of scholarly utopia?” Well, hold onto your calculators, and let’s explore what the swankiest new addition to Walsh Library has to offer.

New Furniture

I recently started telling furniture jokes. But I made nobody laugh sofa. –Anonymous

In order to foster a sense of luxurious practicality, we knew that the old design and furniture arrangements of Walsh 108A would need a revamp. Of course, this space still exists within an academic library; this is not an HGTV show, but that didn’t stop us from doing some light refurbishing and bringing in new chairs and tables to the space.

Now, we don’t mean to imply that the old furniture and design was bad, but it didn’t exactly give off the va-va-voom energy that’s required for the chicest new room in the library. So, we moved a few of the existing tables into the outer lobby and replaced them with some new, comfortable, soft-sided seating, along with several small coffee tables.

You’ll see that these lush chairs are designed to make you feel cozy while you’re hitting the books, and the tables are perfect for group work. Crafted with both style and functionality in mind, this seating selection invites you to sink into a comfortably cozy world or the productivity zone.

Check it out!

How it started…

How it’s going…

Now, that’s what we call an upgrade.

Music to our Ears

No lounge is complete without some musical accompaniment to jam out to. Again though, this is a library, and therefore not the appropriate location for boomboxes and dance parties. Fortunately, we’ve laid out these nifty signs throughout the lounge, with a QR code that connects to our brand new Spotify account. There are eight signs, each curated with a different genre of music. All you have to do is scan the QR code for whichever musical genre you want to listen to, and you will be directed to the playlist for it.

Click on the playlist links below and happy listening!

Fordham Library, Walsh Library Student Lounge Playlists:

Coffee Shop Vibes: Our basic coffee shop playlist for when you want to chill out in the lounge, perhaps with a coffee in hand.

Parisian Café: Oooh la la! This is the perfect playlist for hanging in the lounge and you feel a little “je ne sais quoi.”

Emo Nite Angst: Studying for that big exam/research paper might make you want to scream- But please don’t scream in the library! Listen to this playlist instead. 

All that Jazz: It’s time to travel outside of the comfortable 4×4 beats and venture off into the zany, surreal, bizzaro, beautiful world of jazz.

I Love the 80s!: Whoa- Totally awesome, radical, tubular! This playlist of music solely from the 1980s is where it’s at!

Electric Feel: Wind down and tune out to some chill electronic and LoFi beats. Maybe you’re in the library but this playlist will take you the beaches of Ibiza.

Stories from 16th Avenue: Country music fans know–country is the best storytelling genre. Whether you’re in Nashville or the Walsh Student Lounge, these songs will whisk you away to Music Row.

Funky Fresh: We got the funk, gotta have that funk! Listen to these beats when you need a mini break from studying and have an urge to get down, get dowwwn.

These Spotify playlists are adaptable and always growing, so if you don’t see anything on here that you like, or are interested in giving us a few suggestions, please let us know. You can always DM us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. We are always looking to improve and expand our collection and services based on what’s best for our user community!

So, it’s like a Coffee Shop but without the Coffee?

Imagine one of our study rooms combined with a coffee shop, without anyone selling coffee, and there you have the Walsh Library Student Lounge. We encourage you to bring your own coffee (BYOC), but please note that messy foods are still not allowed in the library (i.e. burgers, pizza, etc.).

Visit the lounge anytime the library is open- BYOC, plop down on a chair, and relax or study with some background lounge music through your headphones.