Fall semester doesn’t mean facing the Sunday scaries alone. Ditch the weekend stress early with free PAWS (Pet Away Worry and Stress) at Wilson Library, Friday Pilates, and relaxed study hangs at the campus libraries. From 24/7 research help to VR gear and dorm decor events, consider UMN Libraries your ultimate fall semester survival tool. Discover all the top study spots, free tech rentals, and upcoming campus events to kick off your first year right!

U Card access for all campus Libraries

All eight of our campus Libraries are still U Card access only. ALL students have access to ALL of our libraries — just bring your U Card! The public are welcome at scheduled events, in the Health Sciences library, and by appointment at Wilson and Andersen Libraries. Check lib.umn.edu for details.

Magrath Library on the St. Paul campus closed

Reminder — Magrath Library on the St. Paul campus closed in June to make way for the new campus center. The Natural Resources Library (in Hodson Hall) has been renamed the St. Paul Campus Library and is the hub for Libraries services on the St. Paul campus.

Highlights:

• The Friday Finish is back! Help students avoid the Sunday scaries and turn select Friday afternoons into productive, yet relaxed study times at Walter Library with peer tutoring, study breaks, snacks, motivational prizes and more.

• *new* Doll Up Your Dorm: Decorate your room (or apartment) on Friday, September 18 anytime from 2-5pm at Walter Library.

• Unwind and recharge at free pilates at Wilson Library on Friday’s from 1-1:45pm – all students, staff, faculty welcome.

• Tell students about our reflection and meditation rooms in Wilson, Walter and the Health Sciences Libraries and Wilson Library’s sensory friendly study room designed to promote calm and focus.

• Read and listen to fun books, novels, mystery, thrillers, romance, non-fiction and magazines with the Libby app (learn more about getting started with Libby).

• Want to start a book club? Check out a book club kit with your U Card – (get a tote with 2 or 6 books, discussion questions and a custom playlist) from Wilson Library. We have over 40 different titles available.

Find space for studying, zooming and relaxing

Need a good place to study? Our eight campus libraries are a great place to relax between classes, reserve a study room, print, meet with a peer tutor, try the Makerspaces, VR Studio or get a cup of coffee at the Wise Owl in Walter Library. Here are some tools to find a spot just for you:

• Study Space Finder (campus-wide)

• Tips for finding space for zoom classes or meetings

• Libraries spaces search tool (reserve one of 50+ individual or group study rooms)

Unique library spaces for wellbeing

• Sensory-friendly study room –  Wilson Library 65A

• Boynton’s West Bank Clinic on the fourth floor of Wilson Library for mental health services. Visit boynton.umn.edu/locations for details.

• Meditation and reflection rooms are for use by all students and staff and include rugs, pillows, etc:

  • Walter Library 212A (first come, first served)

  • Wilson Library 470 (first come, first served)

  • Health Sciences Library – Phillips-Wangensteen Building 5-144 (reserve in advance)

• Unwind & Recharge: Free Friday Mat Pilates at Wilson Library! starts Friday, September 11 from 1-1:45pm and continues almost every Friday

• PAWS (Pet away worry and stress) at Wilson Library – Most Thursdays from 11:30-1:30pm

Walter Library’s Toaster/Makerspace and Health Sciences Library’s Makerspace and Virtual Reality (VR) Studio are open 

The Toaster Innovation Hub  in the basement of Walter Library is a space to learn about idea generation, prototyping and entrepreneurship. The Makerspace features craft kits, sewing machines, 3D printers, button and sticker makers, VR Headsets, and more. The large Health Sciences Library’s Makerspace has free vinyl cutters, 3D printers, sewing machines, soldering irons and more. You can explore the nearby Virtual Reality Studio, too. All majors, years, and skill levels are welcome.

Upcoming Free Events:

Game Night & Walter Library Open House
Friday, September 11 from 4-7pm | Walter Library

Start the semester right and get to know Walter Library — one of the ultimate OG study spots on campus! Bring your U Card to swipe in! We’re celebrating the end of week one (and over 100 years of campus history) by opening our doors for an evening of treats, games, puzzles, button making, and creative fun.

“The Friday Finish” is back for Fall semester!
Everybody’s working for the weekend! Need to get caught up from the busy week? Need motivation to turn your Friday afternoon into a key part of your homework routine? Want to make the Sunday scaries be less scary? Come to Walter Library for a relaxed yet productive study time at the Friday Finish from 1:30-4pm on Fridays:

• Friday, October 2 – Friday Finish  – 1:30-4pm (Bonus: Academic Success Fair AND Walter Library Campus History Pop- Up for Family Weekend)

• Friday, October 30 – Friday Finish – 1:30-4pm (Halloween edition) 

• Friday, November 13 – Friday Finish – 1:30-4pm

PAWS study break at Wilson Library for fall semester
PAWS (Pet Away Worry & Stress) is back at Wilson Library for the ultimate west bank study break! Do you need a quick dopamine boost between lectures or just want to cuddle a furry (or feathered) friend? drop in anytime to hang out with Boynton’s legendary registered therapy team. Yes, we actually have dogs, cats, and chicken!

Save these early semester dates:

• Thursday, September 10 from 11:30 am-1:30 pm

• Thursday, September 24 from 11:30 am-1:30 pm

• Thursday, October 1 from 11:30 am-1:30 pm

• and most Thursdays of the semester. View the complete PAWS schedule.

Unwind & Recharge: Free Friday Pilates at Wilson Library
We’ve teamed up again with RecWell and the Carlson Undergraduate Wellbeing Program to bring you a fresh way to de-stress this fall. Join us on Fridays on the West Bank to stretch, strengthen, and clear your mind. Free and open to everyone on campus: whether you’re an undergraduate writing your first research paper, a grad student deep in dissertation mode, or staff and faculty taking a lunch break—this space is for you. Starts on Friday, September 11 from 1-1:45.

Search to Synthesis: Library Research Workshops for Graduate Students and Professional Students 
These workshops are geared towards graduate students (view our services for graduate students) but are open to all UMN faculty, instructors, students, post-docs, researchers and staff. Whether you’re getting started with grad courses, drowning in citations, hunting down elusive sources, or trying to make sense of a mountain of data, we’ve got your back. Most are held online on zoom. All are free and open to people from all colleges, majors and disciplines. Explore and register for our free online workshops.

Tools and services for research papers and projects:

• Break down bigger projects with the Assignment Calculator. It gives you research and writing steps to complete big research papers, speech or lab reports on time. Add dates to your calendar to stay on track.

• Never pay for articles or PDFs — through the library website, lib.umn.edu, you can access 100,000+ online journals, magazines, and newspapers, and more than 1 million online academic books, streaming videos, music, and more. You can also request and get articles and books we don’t own.

• Learn how to navigate AI and your academic work with GenAI + U or a guide on using Generative AI tools (Gemini, ChatGPT and more). Learn more about avoiding plagiarism (explore the Academic Integrity at the University of Minnesota ebook) and cite your sources by using our article databases. Or try a tool like Zotero to help you organize PDFs, create in-text citations, and your bibliography in seconds.

• Help get started with faculty-sponsored research
  The UMN Libraries and Office of Undergraduate Research are offering “Think Like a Researcher” to help you get started with faculty-sponsored research. It is a self-paced mini-course with videos and short activities (2-3 hours to complete on your own timeline. No grades.). Register today.

• Check out charging kits, VR kits, microphones and more
  Use your Ucard to check out items like headphones, charging kits, VR headsets, microphones & podcasting kits, video games (Nintendo Switch, XBox, and Playstation), anatomical models, video cameras and more.

• Chat with a Librarian 24/7 & librarian appointments
  Chat with a librarian 24/7 or schedule a 30 online or in-person appointment with a Peer Research Consultant (peer tutor for Library research) or request a consultation with one of our subject librarians.

• Working on a capstone or senior project?
  Learn how to use time and project management skills to stay on task using this Effective U module for capstone senior projects. Try new strategies to find and organize sources, learn ways to format your project, and get support from across campus

Upcoming Exhibit:

Unburied: Death and Mourning in the Archives
Andersen Library | October 12 – January 29

Historically, death was ever-present. Death happened at home, where families stood vigil, cared for the bodies of their friends and family, and performed funeral rituals. From burial and mourning practices across communities and cultures, to popular conceptions of death in folklore and literature, the archives teach us not only how our ancestors lived their lives, but also how they understood death. This exhibit includes materials from across our Archives and Special Collections including the Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, Upper Midwest Jewish Archives, Children’s Literature Research Collections, Sherlock Holmes Collection, Upper Midwest Literary Archives and more.