Ohio State to offer puppies, study spots for finals week

Audrey DuVall
Wed, 03 Dec 2014 05:40:52 +0000
Area, Campus, News, animals and games, finals week, Puppies, stress, study break, University Libraries

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Stress might come with finals, but the Ohio State libraries and the Student Wellness Center hope to brighten the mood with tail wagging and game playing.

The OSU libraries have teamed up with the Student Wellness center to offer stress relieving events throughout finals week.

Elizabeth Black, systems librarian for OSU Libraries, said the libraries will be hosting Study Break Spots along with Pause 4 Paws therapy animal visits.

The break spots will feature toys, games, puzzles and similar items for quiet breaks.

They will be available all hours the libraries are open and will start on reading day — the day before finals start — until the last day of finals, Black said.

Finals week begins Dec. 11 and ends Dec. 17.

The Study Break Spots are set to be at Thompson Library, 18th Avenue Library and the Geology Library, Black said.

Therapy animals will visit for Pause 4 Paws study breaks in Thompson Library, 18th Avenue Library and the Architecture Library on reading day and the first half of finals week.

Katie Hosket, a second-year in sport industry, played with the therapy animals during Spring 2014 finals.

“I wouldn’t say in any way they made (finals) more enjoyable. Rather, more bearable. When you’re cramming for so long and studying so much, your anxiety and stress levels reach an all-time high. The simple events I participated in helped a ton to alleviate some of that stress for at least a little,” Hosket said.

Hosket also found that playing with the animals kept her mind off the stress.

“I had fun just not thinking about the 500 other tasks that needed to be done. They were fun to just play with and talk to the owners about,” she said.

Amanda Morello, a second-year in accounting, is allergic to dogs but said she went to watch them anyway because she heard there were puppies in the library.

“On a side note, they lied because they said they were puppies and they weren’t but they were still cute and stress relieving,” Morello said.

Hosket and Morello both said they would be there to play with the animals for this semester’s finals.

Black said the library began offering Study Break Spots at Thompson Library in fall 2012. The Student Wellness Center joined the program in fall 2013 and together they began offering therapy animals during the spring 2013 finals.

Black said the OSU libraries have a $200 budget for Study Break Spots and Pause 4 Paws.