The recently renovated Young Research Library (popularly known as “YRL”) has been quite the buzz lately, especially among students of North Campus who may be delighted to find a great place to study, that happens to be within a few minutes walking distance of their classes and departments.  I myself don’t mind walking a little further to Powell Library for a writer’s block, but the results of YRL’s face lift is so impressive, that it has become my new favorite place to study all across campus.

Throughout the summer, I was aware of YRL’s internal renovation project that had begun earlier that year, and had looked closely at poster outside that boasted modern features of the end result, but had never anticipated that the day would come, when I could actually use the pod-like study spaces on the first floor or grab a coffee right inside the library, in the midst of doing research. Sitting in the colorful, comfortable seating surrounded by curved dividers all centered around a monitor that has four VGA input cables makes me feel like I’m studying inside a tech-savvy flower. The conveniently-nearby laptop lending station lets me never have to lug mine to campus again.

The café adjoining the main floor lounge area is named Café 451, after Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451, which was written in the basement of Powell Library back in the days when people rented typewriters at UCLA, to do their assignments.  The location of the café gives the main floor of YRL a relaxed ambiance that takes away a lot of the stress, but is still very quiet, perfect for studying.  Writers for the Daily Bruin predict that this “third type of study space”, where people are focused but not frantic, will attract many more students to YRL, as compared to prior its renovation (source).