The Office of First Year Experiences highlighted Wells Library as a social space Thursday night by providing free food, games and opportunities to meet new people at the Herman B House Party.
“The principal idea of this event is that we want to show students that the library is their space,” said Michael Courtney, outreach and engagement librarian and event organizer. “What we’re interested in is that the students are meeting and interacting with each other.”
Many students had already gathered at the north and south entrances of the library before the event started, waiting to take advantage of the free food and entertainment. As students came in, what was previously a quiet library quickly transformed into a boisterous, social space.
Students got to know one another over games of ping pong and giant chess. As with many Welcome Week events, they also bonded over free pizza.
One popular activity was speed friends, a platonic spinoff of speed dating with ice breaker questions such as “What is one thing you think people should do before they die?” and “What’s one amazing thing you’ve done that no one was around to see?”
Before the night was over, event attendee Lucas DeBard said he knew what his favorite part of the event was, making a point to acknowledge the new friend he met through the event.
“I came here to meet people, and there’s a lot to do,” DeBard said. “I feel like it’s easier to approach people when there are things going like games.”
While food and games helped many students meet new people, the IU breakdance team drew the largest crowd about an hour into the party. Student radio station WIUX provided music for the team of dancers as they flipped, twisted and spun to hip hop music, drawing audible gasps from the crowd that stood around them.
The loud music and large crowd made for an energetic atmosphere from the beginning, but students found quiet places to relax in the west tower of the library, away from the excitement.
“My favorite part was going through for the pizza and afterwards just chilling, so you get a little bit of a mix of both chaos and then relaxation,” event attendee Kacey Wood said.
Wood and her friends Christie Downey, Jacqueline Beck and Caroline Short said they originally weren’t sure what their plans for the night were but heard about the event through the IU FYE app and decided to come.
“We were just in our dorm and weren’t planning on going out, and then we came here, and it was more people than we expected,” Downey said.
While partying normally takes place off-campus, not in the University's largest library, Courtney said that the organizers wanted to make the library feel like a space not only for academics, but also for interacting with other students and getting support from library staff.
“The big takeaways are that the students know that this is their space, that most of the things that we do support their experience on campus, a lot of it is academic, but it also is a very social atmosphere,” Courtney said.
