No napping in the library

Do you dream about dreaming in the University Library? Dream on. There will be no sleeping pods in the library, the Executive Board has decided.

You may have seen them at the airport: the sleeping pods in which travellers waiting for their flight can take a nap.

Prompted by the sleeping problems and academic pressure that students experience, University Council member Achraf Taouil came up with the idea of placing such sleeping pods in the University Library. “Students and staff can take a short twenty-minute nap in the pod to gain energy. They shouldn’t spend longer than twenty minutes, because then it backfires and you actually become more tired”, Taouil says. He submitted a proposal to the Executive Board on behalf of the University Council.

Fire safety

The Executive Board has decided that sleeping pods are not possible at the moment. If pods were to be placed in the University Library, there would be all kinds of consequences, a spokesperson for Real Estate & Facilities (RE&F) said. RE&F would have to keep the sleeping pods accessible, clean and safe. Fire safety, the building code, electricity, cleaning and monitoring of the pods would also have to be taken into account.

Because of the renovation of the Tinbergen building, the university does not have the resources and staff available to facilitate the U Council initiative at this time.