The lobby of Herman B Wells Library is about to look a little different Friday afternoons.
The Friday Finish, an initiative encouraging students to get work done, meet other students and have fun started by IU Libraries last year, will return Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. starting Feb. 2 and running through March 29. It will miss March 8 and March 15 due to spring break.
“The goal was to encourage students to spend some time on their coursework before the weekend started,” Dean of University Libraries Diane Dallis-Comentale said. “Even a few hours spent on academic responsibilities on a Friday can help students prepare for the week ahead.”
Several activities will be available for students looking to take a break from studying. Students can create tissue paper flowers from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., relax in massage chairs from 12:30-2:30 p.m. and make friendship bracelets from 1-3 p.m. There will also be table tennis set up.
For food, there will be donuts and coffee provided at 10 a.m., pizza at noon and bubble tea at 3 p.m.
All activities and food will be free.
Other resources during the event include writing tutorial services, oversize printing, peer coaching and academic advising. Students may also book individual or group study spaces.
The Friday Finish started as a month-long pilot program in February 2023. The initiative returned last semester as a full program running most Fridays from Sept. 1 to Nov. 10.
The initiative has a different sponsor each week who host tables that fill the lobby of Wells Library. The first sponsor this semester will be the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, specifically its Career Development Center.
“We service students who are pre-major, exploratory as well as transfer students,” Rachel Gerber, associate director of the Career Development Center, said.
Students will be able to talk to career coaches, refresh their resumes and find ways to maximize their summer break at The Friday Finish, Gerber said.
Students can also sign up for the Career Development Center’s upcoming workshop series held at the library Feb. 27, March 5 and March 19.
Each session will focus on a different part of finding a job. The first will be about networking and finding local opportunities, the second will look at resumes, cover letters and LinkedIn profiles and the third will dive into interviewing skills.
“Sometimes it can feel really overwhelming when you just start looking at job boards,” Gerber said. “We have a unique strategy to learn how to get started.”
The Career Development Center will also showcase Interstride, a new platform that supports international students, from 10 a.m. to noon during The Friday Finish.
“It is ways to find full-time jobs, part-time jobs and internships, especially for international students and domestic students seeking global experiences,” Gerber said.
A full schedule can be found on IU Libraries’ website.
“You can’t just sit in your room alone all the time doing work,” Dallis-Comentale said. “It really helps to have a community of people who are there doing work with you. It makes it more tolerable and maybe more like what people expected college to be like.”
