To: Dr. Vincent Boudreau, President

From: Christian J. Lozano, Undergraduate Student

Date: February 10^th, 2020

Subject: Installing more electrical outlets in Cohen Library

The purpose of this memo is to recommend that the school install more electrical outlets in Cohen Library so that students can comfortably sit anywhere without worrying about charging the electronics they use for schoolwork.

Summary: We need to add more electrical outlets to Cohen Library. The library is lacking electrical outlets in several areas, which makes it difficult for students to work on their electronic devices. This causes lower productivity in students and therefore lowers the average student’s grade. Therefore, I would like to speak with you about this proposal whenever you are available.

Discussion: Many students have been frustrated by the fact that they have found a nice place to sit but could not charge their laptop or phone while they work because of a lack of electrical outlets. On the second floor of the library, there are white desks that have outlets on them, but they do not provide power. And while there are some outlets on the floor, each floor outlet only has two plugs in each area of the library while more than two people need to access them. Additionally, on the 4th and 5th floor, areas by the windows and the couches suffer from a lack of outlets, which leads many students to opt not to use those spaces.

Student’s needs not being met causes a decrease in productivity among them because as they become frustrated at not being able to find a comfortable place to work, they are more likely to push their work to sometime later in the day. This often results in procrastination to the degree of just not doing their work. For students to be efficient with their work, they need to be comfortable and have everything they need to complete their work.

For these reasons, it would make sense to add more wall outlets in locations lacking them and install surge protectors that will provide even more outlets so that students never have to worry about not having a place to plug in their devices. And if you would like to track the impact on students, we can send out surveys asking students whether adding more outlets helped them be more productive. The extra outlets would be best installed during either the summer or winter term where there are not many students attending classes.

As beforementioned, adding more outlets would increase the productivity of the students. Not just because they would be able to charge their electronics, but also because when students see everyone around them focusing on their work, they will be more likely to do their own. Additionally, many students choose to work in the library because they have too many distractions at home, so it is vital to give them a comfortable space where they can completely focus on getting their schoolwork done. 

Recommendation: I would like to thank you for reviewing my proposal and would like to speak to you about this idea whenever you are available. If you know anyone else who may also be interested in this project, feel free to bring them for the discussion on how we will implement more outlets in the library. You can contact me at [email protected] at any time to discuss the details of this project in full.