Students who plan on studying in the Main Library during finals week might want to bring their own chairs.

The nonstop cramming sessions for finals in the library has already begun.

Patricia Butler, late-night security supervisor for the library, said the number of students in the library around 1 a.m. during finals week can reach up to 1,200 people - a far cry from the 100 to 200 students present on a normal weekday night throughout the semester.

Butler said things can get crazy in the library during finals week. Students often struggle to find fundamental resources like computers and chairs that are not occupied by other students cramming for finals.

"They try to sit in nonpublic areas where the reference staff sits," Butler said. "We have to kick them out and help them find a seat someplace else."

Many students cannot find seats when they go to the library because they are looking for them in the wrong places, Butler said, adding most students who come to the library tend to study on the first floor.

"The first floor is where the Cyber Café and most of the computers are," she said.

Butler said she frequently took students who needed chairs to the east side of the library during last semester's finals.

"If I was going to come here to study during finals week, I would go there because it's so quiet," she said. "You can find a little nook away from everybody there."

And while the number of students increases during finals week, the staff remains unchanged - which puts library employees in high demand.

"People are going to be frustrated," Butler said. "They are going to have something due soon and they're going to need our help."

English junior Summer Golden is just one of the many thousands of MSU students who Bulter and her staff assist during finals week.

Although Golden said she planned to study early last semester, she ended up cramming for her tests the week of finals.

"I wasn't planning on waiting until the last minute," she said. "But I kept procrastinating."

Golden said waiting until the last minute to study was unpleasant.

"It's the worst feeling in the world," she said. "It seems like you have too much to do and you don't have enough time to do it in."

While studying in the library hour after hour, Golden said her mind would wander from her studies to other subjects.

"I couldn't focus well," she said. "I would start thinking about other things, wishing that I had started studying earlier."

Education freshman Gina DiBrito said she studies in the library, but also in the Women's Lounge of the Union.

And like Golden, DiBrito said she often crams for exams.

"I usually study the night before," she said. "I have other classes, so I do one thing and get it over with.

"I take it one day at a time."