Let's be honest, Butler Library develops a peculiar smell in the weeks before finals—one that its grand architecture and palatial checkered floors do little to allay. I aim to help you avoid such unpleasantness by suggesting the unthinkable: leave Butler behind and take time to explore some new, less crowded study spots. I must also acknowledge the personal agenda behind my writing—to defend the library's inherent value as a museum, an oasis in the midst of a bustling city, and a room with thousands of open doors, each of which offers an escape from the mundane. Libraries are not just places to study—they have personalities, art, history, and silence alongside their shelves of books. There is something to Jorge Luis Borges' claim that they are a sort of paradise. For the first library in this series, I decided to stick close to campus. The East Asian Library is conveniently located on the third floor of Kent Hall and houses one of the major East Asian studies collections in the United States. It offers thousands of volumes in Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, Korean, Mongol, Manchu, and western languages. Additionally, it is home to many fascinating artifacts (some of which are the books themselves) and is a simply charming study spot. The collection was started over 100 years ago, when a donation was made to Columbia to institute a Chinese department. It moved into Kent Hall in 1961, replacing the Law Library. Part of the Law Library remains on the east wall of the reading room, in the form of an enormous stained glass window depicting the figure of Justice. Other artifacts include a Japanese cabinet built for exhibition at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, an 18th-century Buddhist statue of the Bodhisattva Jizo-sama, and a 19th-century Japanese gilded woodcarving. The reading room has a hushed, sunny atmosphere, suggesting that reading rooms can be quiet without being dim, depressing, or isolated. It affords views of Philosophy Hall on one side and College Walk on the other, making it impossible to feel cut off from the world, an all too familiar feeling when entrenched in the bowels of Butler. Ken Harlin didn't choose the East Asian Library when he became a Columbia librarian, but something compelled him to remain there—for 39 years in fact. He enthusiastically described the library's central location as one of its best qualities and finds that the reading room and library staff contribute to its appeal. So this semester, act on Harlin's 39 years of experience, take a vacation from Butler, and explore a tranquil reading room with an entirely different atmosphere. Expand your horizons beyond the study spots that are familiar, and pay a visit to Kent Hall, where available seats await you.