The new examination relaxation room

We all know that examinations can be very stressful for students and they need all the support they can get. To this end the Merensky 2 Library introduced a new initiative – an examination relaxation room!

During the May to June examination period the Merensky 2 Library opened the doors of the seminar room on level 4 to all our students. This venue had recently been upgraded with modern furniture creating a welcoming atmosphere. Although it is mainly used for staff meetings, students were allowed to make use of the facility during the examination  period.

The purpose of this initiative was to demonstrate that the library cares about the well-being of our students, and to provide them with a neutral space where they can unwind and beat the exam stress with some creative activities.

Merensky 2 library staff members were actively involved and generously donated a jigsaw puzzle, some colouring pages and pencils. The Marketing Office bought some pencils and made copies of appropriate colouring images as well as Sudoku available.

Students were invited to come and relax in this area in a number of ways:

• by colouring in: adult colouring-in is the latest craze and is nowadays a popular and pleasurable form of relaxation;
• by lending a hand in building a 5 000 piece jigsaw puzzle, another fun method to unwind;
• by playing Sudoku - easy as well as more difficult templates were made available;
• by bringing their own refreshments and relaxing and unwinding between examination sessions.

The immediate response on social media after the examination room had been introduced, ranged from “This is AWESOME!” to “What a cool idea!” As this was the first undertaking of its kind, a survey was conducted in the room to determine the success of the initiative and to measure to which extent the examination relaxation room addressed the needs of our students during examination time. 57 responses were received. The students enjoyed all the activities in the room but colouring in and just relaxing in the room received the highest number of votes. 98% of the students said they would recommend this facility to their friends and everyone wanted the library to repeat the exercise during the October and November examination period.

Of course the students also offered a lot of advice on how the room could be improved! The suggestions included more space, more games (especially TV games), having a couch and restful background music.

The Marketing Office plans to re-open the doors of the relaxation room during the October to November examination period.