University | 11:50 pm | December 4, 2012 | By Rebecca Levinsky

Cornell carpets library with grass

Like cattle, Cornell students lounge on the grass as they prepare for finals. Moo.
Like cattle, Cornell students lounge on the grass as they prepare for finals. Moo. Photo by Cornell Daily Sun.

When it comes to library flooring, Cornell has mowed down the competition. Literally. Cornell’s Olin Library now has real grass on the library floor.

A patch of special grass was imported from Adirondacks, N.Y., and installed in the library’s study spaces in the hopes that its “cognitive relaxing effect” would stimulate students’ productivity during the final crunch of the semester, The Cornell Daily Sun reported Monday.

Why these students need grass to nap is anyone’s guess, though the leafy substance certainly seems more comfortable than the chairs in Bass. (Every time I try to lean my head against the armrest of one of Bass’ chairs and cuddle up for a nap, I wake up feeling like my head is about to roll off.)

It remains to be seen how Cornell administrators plan to maintain the grass’s greenness and lushness. Will library staff need to water the grass? Will the grass’s “cognitive relaxing effect” begin to wither as the plant itself inevitably dies in its new, unnatural environment? Your guess is as good as mine.

Despite all the clear practical issues that can arise from sticking grass in a library, I will be the first to admit that I wish I could write the five papers I have due in the next three days while sitting on a muddy patch of worn-down grass under the artificial lighting in Bass. But it probably wouldn’t work: Imagine completing the naked run while slipping through an indoor lawn.

Or actually, don’t imagine that.

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