Harrell Library updates group study room policy

The Harrell Health Sciences Library’s group study room policy is being updated to emphasize the priority on providing space for small groups of learners to work together. You can read the full, updated policy below, or on the library’s Policies page.

The purpose of the small group study rooms at the Harrell Health Sciences Library: Research and Learning Commons is for small groups of students and learners to study and collaborate. (Learners include: graduate students, medical students, nursing students, physician assistant students, visiting scholars and residents.)

Failure to comply with these regulations will result in forfeiture of your study room reservation and make the room available to others for reservation. Continued infractions will result in a ban from reserving study rooms in the future, and the user(s) being reported to their department/program for unprofessional conduct.

Reservations

• Rooms are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Group Study Rooms are available for walk-in use by learners when they are not reserved. Groups are encouraged to make a reservation. Groups with reservations have priority. Walk-in users must forfeit their room to a group with a reservation.
• Learners may reserve Group Study Rooms for up to four hours in a 24-hour period (midnight to midnight).
• Learners may reserve Group Study Rooms up to one week in advance.

Occupancy

• If a group with a reservation fails to occupy the room within 15 minutes of their reservation start time, the reservation is forfeited and the room is available to others.
• Group Study Rooms must be occupied during reserved time. If a group leaves the room for more than 15 minutes, the reservation is ended and the room is available to others.
• Leaving personal belongings in a Group Study Room does not constitute occupancy. The library is not responsible for the loss of belongings left unattended in Group Study Rooms.
• “Creative scheduling” (i.e. scheduling gaps in your reserved time during which you intend to stay in the room) is not permitted.

Groups

• Multiple reservations by different members of the same group during the same 24-hour period are not permitted.
• All group members must be identified by full name or Penn State Health Access ID in the reservation.
• All group members must be learners at this campus.

Conduct

• Keep masks on at all times in Group Study Rooms.
• Absolutely no food is permitted in Group Study Rooms.
• Reasonable noise levels should be maintained. Please close the door when a group is using a room.

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