Forget Starbucks, work at the library instead

http://davecaolo.com/productivity/forget-starbucks-work-at-the-library/

by henning • 17 years ago

160 113 17 years ago

For that matter, why not work at home?

When I worked at coffee shops a few days a week (or a month), I went specifically to get some new background noise and new background scenery.

Although, I suppose a library offers even fewer distractions than home does, and you do have to wear pants.

dbul2• 17 years ago

Here are three personal reasons:

1) It is good to be in an environment where others are hard at work because you'll be less likely to screw around.

2) It feels like you are doing something fun (you are "out") and at the same time working hard.

3) Home can be quite distracting unless you are fortunate enough to have a large house with a nice office.

joeyo• 17 years ago

Regarding your first point, I find that if I am writing I need to change my work location every few weeks (or sometimes even more often). I become acclimated to the location and I become more prone to slacking off/day dreaming. Something the fresh location helps me a lot.

mechanical_fish• 17 years ago

It is good to be in an environment where others are hard at work because you'll be less likely to screw around.

There is tons of psych research on the effect of isolation on humans. Basically, it drives you insane. It is literally a form of torture. We are social creatures, designed to live in packs and tribes. Even an antisocial human is a relatively social creature.

It isn't easy to believe this until you've tried it. But I spent a year working out of my home office, and now I have a cubicle in an office again, and it is astonishing how much happier and more productive I am when I'm surrounded by other people, even if -- indeed, especially if -- they don't interact with me very much.

Of course, there is plenty of other research (not to mention lots of anecdotes from folks like PG) on the benefits of not being interrupted when you're trying to program. So what you really want is the library, where there are fellow humans around, but nobody will approach you or even speak in a loud voice. (Or perhaps you want a fishbowl office like the one Joel Spolsky built, where you can see lots of other people but you can't hear them.)

wglb3• 17 years ago

Already work at home 24x7, so an offsite meeting with myself is often helpful.

cema• 17 years ago

A good point, by the way.

blang• 17 years ago

Having a small commute is great, but having no separation between your work and living spaces kind of sucks. I find that working out allows me to be more relaxed when I get back home. If I work from home, I tend not feel like I completed the work day.

zngtk4• 17 years ago

I agree. Working at home also gives you the opportunity to use a full size keyboard, use multiple (or large) monitors, and more. And you save tons on the price of coffee (and can often have even better coffee once you learn how).

This works best if you can have a separate room as your office, however.

eru5• 17 years ago

I'll try bringing my own keyboard to the library next time.

ja27• 17 years ago

I "work from home" at least two days a week. I often head to one of the two nearby libraries to work for a couple hours, mostly just to change my environment. Despite all the books and a few roaming kids, it's less distracting than being at home. Plus, I hate the smell of burning coffee at most cafes.

For some reason our local libraries block instant messengers, some webmail (but not https Gmail), and VPN connections. If it weren't for our http/https VPN setup, I wouldn't be able to do any online work there.

They also have few laptop-friendly seats. The big library near me has just two grown-up sized tables and you usually have to squeeze onto a table with a couple others. The smaller library has 8 study cubicles, most without power outlets, but it also has a park next to it where you can catch the wifi from some picnic tables.

timdorr2• 17 years ago

I can think of a few reasons:

- Pets - TV - Fridge/Pantry - Kids/Wife/Husband/Roommates

Beyond that, there are many opportunities for your non-work life to interrupt your work life. It's a culture thing, being that there is absolutely no work culture at your home where there is one at a place with others.

I'm actually in the process of setting up a coworking facility down here in Atlanta. We're going to have two rooms to satisfy both camps: The Loud Room and The Quiet Room. Each caters to a specific goal and lets people use the space they want to without inconveniencing others. It's sort of a coffee shop next to a library. Best of both worlds :)

eru5• 17 years ago

In the university library at METU in Ankara, Turkey, they had these separation as well.

abalashov9• 17 years ago

A coworking facility in Atlanta? I'd love to hear more.

I live where Midtown borders downtown and am a self-employed telecom consultant - basically a glorified one-man show.

Oompa2• 17 years ago

I love working at the Georgia Tech library. Open 24/7 during the business week and it's nice and quite. It's one of the greatest perks of going to Georgia Tech for me.

ajju• 17 years ago

Edit: Well, I totally misinterpreted what the author meant by "work at". This'll teach me to RTFA I guess.

FWIW, GT's library does rock. They have quiet area as well as group areas and a great set of workstations as well. The only thing missing is a decent coffee machine.

Oompa2• 17 years ago

Jazzman's on the first floor provides decent coffee, but sadly not open 24/7.

jhancock• 17 years ago

I worked with a friend at the GT lib in '88 on a startup. Great choice!!!

jcw• 17 years ago

The GT library gets pretty stuffy during the summer.

dpcan• 17 years ago

Just worked at the Library yesterday. Hearing a few kids laughing and looking at books is WAY better than hearing the espresso machine chatter from people in line.

rufo• 17 years ago

For me it's the blenders that drive me insane. I don't mind some background chatter and often listen to music anyway, but those damn blenders cut through earpieces and drive me a bit mad.

Still, I do enjoy it from time to time as a change of pace. Mostly I've started working at our local co-working place in Rochester - unlimited coffee, no worries about leaving your laptop if you need to run an errand, etc.

dbul2• 17 years ago

Places like Starbucks and Borders charge for Wi-Fi access

Not entirely true. Borders is probably the only place I know that still charges for wifi. Everywhere else it is either free or you get two hours free by entering some kind of code.

vegashacker2• 17 years ago

Starbucks has a pretty annoying card registration thing, but once you do that, the internet is usually hassle-free. Also, even though everyone seems to cite this two hour limit (I have too), in practice I've never seen my internet connection actually expire--and I spend a good amount of time in Starbucks. Headed to one right now, in fact...

xel02• 17 years ago

I've found that the quietest library on my campus is the Law library. Very few undergrad groups studying there (which is usually what causes noise I've found).

vegashacker2• 17 years ago

It's strange that he listed "Phone calls" as one of the reasons he loves working at the library. If you read the explanation, it's a wash in terms of coffee house v. library in this category.

One downside of the library is that it's often not convenient to grab a cup of coffee or snack. The main branch in SF has a cafe, but it's way in the basement. The Chinatown branch doesn't have any food or drinks.

321abc2• 17 years ago

Bring your own snack, and coffee in a thermos bottle. Then just step outside the library for a few minutes to eat/drink what you brought.

whye2• 17 years ago

San Jose's MLK library lets you bring drinks and food, with some restrictions. There is also a decent coffee shop on the ground floor. The down side is the large number of homeless hitting you up for money, the fragrant bathrooms, and some SJSU students who can be a little inconsiderate about noise / cell phones. Still, if you need a quiet place with internet to work, I'd recommend it.

nwatson• 17 years ago

Don't know about others, but I need some noise and distraction to work. A library feels like a tomb, no life at all.

bradgessler• 17 years ago

The fatal flaw with working from the Library is no coffee.

billturner• 17 years ago

The main library I occasionally work at does have coffee, and is allowed anywhere on the 1st floor. You just can't take it up into the stacks.

jimbokun• 17 years ago

Within walking distance of me, there are 3 libraries that have a place that serves coffee.

(Carnegie Library Oakland, Carnegie Mellon Hunt, and Pitt Hillman, if you must know.)

In addition, all of them are surrounded by coffee places, so you can stretch your legs, get a coffee, maybe work at the coffee shop for a change of pace, then return to the library for better concentration. I have studied for exams and worked on long projects this way.

A former office mate and I would often run through all the options we had for coffee. The coffee maker in our office and the beans my office mate ordered from Hawaii. The sludge in the lounge coffee maker. Walk down the hall to the department's espresso vending machine (which makes surprisingly good latte's). The stand selling coffee and espresso one building over. Or walk about a block to the two coffee shops across the street from each other (Starbuck's and a local place).

Is coffee culture taken to such extreme in other places, or is this a Pittsburgh thing?

silentbicycle2• 17 years ago

Some libraries have coffee shops, some allow coffee in covered mugs. This varies from city to city (and occasionally branch to branch), of course.

dylanz• 17 years ago

You get less girls in mini-skirts at the library. Biggest, distraction, ever.

fburnaby• 17 years ago

Some things might be worth losing productivity over. "Aww shoot, I guess I'll have to stay overtime!"

blhack• 17 years ago

The girls in mini skirts, however, are a great motivator!

BigZaphod• 17 years ago

Not when you're married. :)

abalashov9• 17 years ago

Depends on which library. If it's the library of a well-known state party school (cough http://www.uga.edu/ COUGH), you get more.

huhtenberg• 17 years ago

With regards to the noise and chatter in coffee shops (or the lack of thereof in libraries) - try using noise-canceling headphones and a bit of music of your choice. I was really surprised how well these headphones muffle all external sound. Though you do need some music, because otherwise the silence becomes distracting :)

brezina• 17 years ago

during grad school I always found myself getting a real sensory deprivation rush when I went to the library at night to study. Great idea to explore the library as a working environment again now that i'm in the working world. Now i just need to find libraries that are open late.

jexe• 17 years ago

If you're trying to get some work done in Manhattan, give up trying to find a cafe with a seat, and hit the Rose Reading Room at the NYPL. Free wifi, lots of outlets, and it's freakin dramatically gorgeous.

http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/grd/rosemain.html

wglb3• 17 years ago

This looks gorgeous.

alabut• 17 years ago

I've been there - it's even more stunning in person than it is in pictures. They film movie scenes in there all the time.

AndrewO3• 17 years ago

<awed_whistle/>

Makes me think of the beginning of Ghostbusters (although IIRC that was Columbia's library).

dzlobin2• 17 years ago

Wow, hard to believe I've spent the last few months working in NYC without going here. I'm heading over there tomorrow, with work in hand.

hackernews• 17 years ago

thanks for the tip. I'm going to check this out

mdakin2• 17 years ago

And if you're in Boston the BPL in Copley Square has a similarly beautiful and useful room. And despite now living thousands of miles away I still see fit to always carry my BPL card. It's been on me for over twenty years at this point and features my childhood-era signature. Can't let go. :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/inzenity/2594029543/

dgallagher• 17 years ago

Thanks for that. I go to the BPL all the time and had no idea that room existed! :0

My two complaints about Copley BPL is that they don't have nearly enough outlets for laptops, and their WiFi can be spotty in places. Of course, maybe Bates Hall will solve all those problems... ;)

They're good with the homeless too. Security guards walk all over that place constantly and wake anyone up who's sleeping. The bathrooms though, arg, across the street to Starbucks please. :)

alaithea2• 17 years ago

Ooh, that looks awesome. Anybody have any similar suggestions for D.C./Arlington? I'm moving there soon, and while I'm still unemployed, I may as well find a gorgeous place to hang out and work on job apps and programming projects.

lallysingh• 17 years ago

Yeah, if you hit the coffee shops, watch out for guys trying to recruit you into web-based pyramid schemes.

You can usually identify them by very generic terminology about internet business and (seriously, every one of them) a paper planner.

skinnymuch3• 17 years ago

Thanks for the tip. I'm moving to Long Island City next month so this should be a great place to go to. I assume they don't allow food, but do you know if they allow beverages at the tables? My local library allows that which has been great for me. I usually need something to drink or munch on while working or I get antsy.

EDIT: Ah man. It closes at 6pm alot of the nights. I usually like working later than that.

dzlobin2• 17 years ago

I bet we can find a similar place to get some work done later then 6-8pm. I'm in the same boat as you, and I'll start searching for a viable late-night quiet spot.

igorgue• 17 years ago

there is a Starbucks inside Barnes&Noble ;)

wglb3• 17 years ago

I have done this. Tried starbucks but the music was what was killing the concentration. So went to the library. But it is too small, so more than one day in a row and you feel like you are sticking out. Next time will likely go http://www.library.northwestern.edu/ where I have a card.

rokhayakebe• 17 years ago

Try Barnes and Nobles. They have free WIFI and you can go upstairs where no-one will bother you.

lanaer• 17 years ago

Worth noting that not every B&N has an “upstairs”. Indeed, most of the B&Ns I’ve been to have been 1 story, though the ones in large, wealthy, shopping areas have been 2.

tptacek4• 17 years ago

We ran our Chicago office from the Oak Park Public Library for something like 5-6 months. There was a credible coffee shop on the first floor, and the library allowed drinks. Free wi-fi. Desks. For meetings, we could book private study rooms for 1-2 hours on almost no notice.

The only real downside to the library was that you couldn't get on the phone during the day without going outside.

The nicest thing about the library is that it works well exactly up to the point where you need and can afford an office.

Unlike the coffee shops, which mostly lose out by being packed full of people who buy one cup of coffee per hour, the library basically exists for the purpose of providing a quiet space for knowledge work. You fund it with your taxes. Library architecture in most metro areas is excellent. You should work out of the library.

khafra• 17 years ago

Innovative advice; do you know how the library staff felt about it? Did they know?

Also, I read your last sentence as "You should work out in the library," and imagined laying down under a cart full of large hardcover volumes, trying to grunt very quietly while pressing it. Just sayin'.

tptacek4• 17 years ago

The library staff definitely knew about it. I felt bad originally for booking private study rooms for work, and not "private study"; I was vigorously assured that I shouldn't feel guilty for doing so.

Two things to realize:

(1) The library staff is a lot more nervous about the library being empty than they are about it being full. Something about busy libraries being the reason they get paid.

(2) If libraries have headache clientele, it's the homeless. I had no idea what a mess that situation was until I started going to the library every day.

silentbicycle2• 17 years ago

While I'm not claiming to speak for all library employees, I worked for a public library for about six years* , including some time when wireless internet access was relatively novel. Someone camping out with a laptop wasn't a problem, even all day, provided they weren't being noisy (cell phones!), downloading porn, or otherwise being a nuisance. Actually, people who bring their own computers are probably a lot less trouble for staff, who may be busy keeping of track of whose turn it is next on the public computers, helping adults figure out how to file taxes online, etc.

The staff (and/or branch policy) ultimately decide what to do if a group of people is obviously using the library as a kind of temporary office, and they may request you make more formal arrangements. (The branches I worked at always had back rooms that could be rented out to tutors.) With several people, noise may be an issue. Still, one person typing, or two or three people working with occasional quiet collaboration is probably on par with a couple teenagers studying together. Just be considerate.

Libraries are paid for with tax dollars, and (as tptacek noted) staff are generally more nervous about empty libraries. Branch funding is often closely tied to usage stats - people coming through the door each day, circulation, internet station sessions, etc.

Also, depending on the neighborhood, the staff are probably more worried about drunk and/or mentally ill street people, misbehaving teenagers, etc. (Oh, the stories...)

* Great job to have through college, BTW.

olihb2• 17 years ago

The big problem with working in a library is theft. You always have to carry your valuables around. If you want to take a wiz you have to pack your laptop, coat (in winter), cell phone, etc. each time.

But if you're in a group or rent a lockable study room, it's less complicated.

commiebob• 17 years ago

how is that any different than in a busy coffee shop?

Shooter• 17 years ago

Are you still in Chicago, Thomas? I have a house in Oak Park (and go to OPPL about once a week when I'm in the city.)

Didn't the fluorescent lighting (weird, flowery lighting fixtures) and homeless guys bother you? Or the kids that fight/argue and get kicked out by the security guards?

I definitely work better in the library than in coffee shops, but I'm too spoiled to do it full-time now. My concentration isn't what it used to be.

srini• 17 years ago

Another huge plus for libraries: many of them have conference and meeting rooms that you can book for free.

If you're in the Bay Area, mid-Peninsula, the San Carlos library has rooms with whiteboards. Plus, it's only a ten minute drive to the likes of EA, Oracle, etc.

oomkiller• 17 years ago

Yeah but they usually don't have food and drink at libraries, so you'd have to get up and leave if you got hungry, arguably reducing productivity.

philwelch• 17 years ago

Food and drink at coffee shops is ridiculously overpriced. And some libraries allow outside food or drink, so you can just pack a sandwich and thermos with you.

Seriously, you're eating $3 slices of pound cake and drinking $4 coffees when for that amount of money you can have ham sandwiches for a week?

michaelfairley• 17 years ago

My problem with working in a coffee shop/library/anywhere is that I can only use my laptop, and not my nice 22" dual monitor setup on my desktop. How do you manage to get as much done without a real mouse, a real keyboard, and big monitors?

billswift• 17 years ago

I really like going to the library when I'm working with pen and lots of paper. Except for after school, you can usually get a 30" by 6 foot table to yourself and really spread out - great for trying to coordinate info from multiple papers/schedules/plans.

carbon8• 17 years ago

Virtual desktops.

abalashov9• 17 years ago

That only goes so far. Big screen gives you the ability to see many things "simultaneously" -- well, requiring only to cast your eyes, not make distracting and tedious mouse or keyboard movements and process mental context switches from the contents of a totally different desktop.

AndrewO3• 17 years ago

Definitely agree.

However, one thing to be aware of is that a lot of parents use libraries as excursions/free daycare and librarians are reluctant to yell at kids. Not that I blame either of them (good job, parents. Let's get those kids reading early!), but have some headphones for when the usual decorum breaks down.

Still, it beats the over-commercialized folk music and hissing espresso machines of the coffee shop.

AndrewO3• 17 years ago

Personally, I recommend a quiet corner of a 5 star hotel lobby/bar that has free wifi and accommodating doormen. Our first 2 or 3 weeks we camped out on the mezzanine overlooking the lobby of a not-to-be-named fancy hotel in DC (interspersed with on-sites at a nearby client's).

The best part was when the piano player started at 5:00 we knew it was about time to wrap up (and sometimes grab a scotch). That was a good way to end a day.

Libraries, however, are a great choice for telecommuting (especially when home is full of temptations for distraction).

technomancy• 17 years ago

I've found you actually get a lot more disruptive crazies at the libraries. I think it has something to do with the fact that it is free.

billymeltdown2• 17 years ago

Dave writes:

> "there’s a much better - and cheaper - option just down the road. My library."

I disagree, I think coworking spaces are a far better option than the library! Far cheaper than office space, environment for working and actually talking to a co-worker or two, no social isolation, it just makes so much more sense.

billymeltdown2• 17 years ago

I should also add that you won't feel obligated to pay for a piece of cake or a coffee every so often, just bring what you need. Williamsburg Coworking in Brooklyn is a great space, so is Indy Hall down in Philadelphia.

tptacek4• 17 years ago

$250/mo is pretty steep for your first quarter in business. Using the library until your company gets its sea legs, and then migrating to coworking spaces, sounds like a good plan to me.

lloydarmbrust• 17 years ago

Great idea. Hearing the barista yell the drink she finished making every 30 seconds tends to interrupt my train of thought.

simonista• 17 years ago

I'd also recommend University Campuses for this kind of thing. As well as the campus library, many buildings have private study rooms

imp2• 17 years ago

My local library is nice, but they block SSH access. That's a bigger downside than the distractions at the coffee shop next door.

321abc2• 17 years ago

Maybe you could set up an SSH server on port 80.

imp2• 17 years ago

Ah, good point. Didn't think about that.

abalashov9• 17 years ago

OpenVPN is a godsend.

ivankirigin2• 17 years ago

The biggest reason I wouldn't work at either is that I can't use a huge display. That matters more for my productivity than the differences between the two options here.

DenisM• 17 years ago

Tried the 17" MacBook? 1900x1200.

ivankirigin2• 17 years ago

I used that and a 30" display. It is far bigger

abalashov9• 17 years ago

Tell me about it. I just can't do any serious work on any conceivable laptop I could own for that very reason.

whye2• 17 years ago

The down side: homeless people hitting you up for change every half hour. Not to be a jerk because some of these people really are in a dreadful spot and need help, but it /does/ make it hard to work in some libraries, for instance (in the Bay Area), San Jose MLK, Los Altos, Palo Alto main branch.

10ren• 17 years ago

My closest public library is actually quite noisy, people chatting in normal conversation levels and so on, not hushed at all. I was a little surprised, but the staff clarified that it's a "public library", not an "academic library".

It's funny though: I don't mind a loud cafe. Maybe it's because there are many voices, and it becomes a white-noise/hub-bub. But just one conversation is very distracting. iPod helps, but it's not always enough.

rjb• 17 years ago

For those of you in Chicago, you have to check out the Dominicks at Chicago and Damen... The cast of characters at this place are something straight out of Ghost World!

This captivating distraction aside, I am pretty sure all the Dominicks offer free wifi, descent work environment and of course cheap foodstuffs.

datums• 17 years ago

Completely agree. I've tried working at a Panera. I ended up getting a little work done and eating 2 sandwiches. If you are serious about getting thing done, try it one day and compare your productivity.

hyperbovine• 17 years ago

My local library has taken to advertising "Free WiFi!" with a big sign on the side of the building. I find it really depressing--is that what we've come to as a society? I guess "Free Books!" counts for nothing nowadays.

eru5• 17 years ago

How about making such a sign at home and planting it before the library at night as a subversive action?

baddox• 17 years ago

Do libraries have wifi?

eru5• 17 years ago

Ours does. (Magdeburg, Germany.)

SwellJoe• 17 years ago

I've started noticing folks using their laptops at various locations around the local library at all hours of the day. I didn't realize it at first, but I guess they're there for the WiFi. A couple of nights ago, around midnight, there were two cars with a total of three laptops running parked in the lot with folks hunched over them. I guess they leave the network running all night.

I've thought about taking the dogs, my lappy, and finding a nice shady spot to sit down outside the library, and seeing if I can get some work done...but I never seem to be able to pull myself away from my desktop, mouse, and 24" monitor. Maybe tomorrow.

coolestuk2• 17 years ago

I tried my local library. It was impossible. The building so over-heated, that even with snow on the ground and me wearing a thin cotton shirt, I thought I was going to pass out. Then there were the "students" who spent their time laughing loudly and chatting (even more loudly) on their mobile phones. When I complained to the staff about this, they said it was policy to allow it (I guess they are desperate to have bums on seats, and it is the students' problem if they can't study because their peers are making so much noise.)

I then tried a public museum with a study centre, only to be told after a few weeks that I couldn't plug my laptop into their mains supply! (I believe that really they just wanted to get rid of me, since the rest of the study centre was always empty, and it was clear that I was programming not studying their collection.)

Finally, the best option of all is a museum that has a private members' room. I'm often the only person there. Not only that, but there is a cafe in the members room', and toilets just outside. And all for about $100 a year. I don't think the Members Room has wifi, but that's not a problem for me. I avoid microsoft whenever possible, but my Windows Mobile phone allows me to share its internet connection (and the sharing works with os x, windows, and linux).

When I want some relief from work, I go for a stroll round the museum. I love libraries, but I find the visual stimulus of thousands of different artifacts a fine contrast after staring at words on a screen for a couple of hours.

CalmQuiet• 17 years ago

Is your library (or the governmental agency supporting it) unaffected by budget crisis (asssuming it's unconcerned about energy conservation on general principles)?

I'd probably find the proper channels to report such wasteful practices.

coolestuk2• 17 years ago

When I complained about the temperature in the library, the staff agreed, but said there was nothing they could do about it, as the heating was broken. However, I was there last week and even though it was warm outside, it felt like the heating was still on. And this is in a new building hailed for its innovative design.

I'm in continuing disputes about the local government's wastefulness, laziness and lack of care. We had no drains outside our house for years, and it took almost 4 years and 17 complaints to get it sorted - despite them having an office that overlooked the street that flooded when it rained heavily!

They charge us about $1500 for additional services - principally cleaning the area between the house and the street - which they spend no more than 20 minutes a week cleaning. I've taken to photographing the dirt and refuse, as I'm refusing to pay for these poor quality and very costly services.

If everyone else refused to pay for these services, they would not have the money to waste on over-heating the library.

kuzux• 17 years ago

I might be in one of the weirdest places to do stuff, a kebab house in turke. i'm not "working" here, i'm currently in holiday and that was the only place i could find free WiFi

abalashov9• 17 years ago

My biggest problems with trying to work in a variety of public places (coffee shops, libraries, universities, Panera, lobbies of various buildings, whatever) are:

- Lack of large display. I can't really do anything serious on a laptop anymore. I know I used to before large displays are affordable, but it just feels indispensable now - for development work, at least.

- LATENCY! Public wifi hotspots suffer from lack of QoS policing or fair queueing, and there are always going to be a few annoying people with virus-laden Windows laptops around to help slow things down. I work on large telecom systems that pretty much require me to do my development remotely via SSH and/or SSHFS and/or NFS over VPN; there is no local development alternative for me. I can't cram my stuff onto a laptop. So, if I have to deal with substantial lag (consistent or spikes) over an SSH session my productivity just circles the drain.

ajayrchandran• 17 years ago

though if you are lucky you get to sit on these comfy sofas in Starbucks....but i think i would be willing to let that go for the library anytime

Forget Starbucks, work at the library instead

Related Stories