Study Room Reservation Policy

In order to provide all students with the ability to use the Fred Parks Law Library study rooms, the Library has in place a study room reservation system and policies.  This also allows students to plan ahead and ensure there will be a suitable space for study groups to meet.

Current students and graduates with an active STCL Student ID or an active STCL Student email account can use the Study Room Reservation System.

The Fred Parks Law Library houses 59 study rooms.  (Only two law schools in the country have more study rooms).  To try to accommodate everyone’s needs, only select study rooms can be reserved.  Rooms that can be reserved are:

• All 22 conference rooms:
  • 1010, 1012, 1014, 2004, 3004, 3005, 3027, 3028, 3029, 3030, 3031, 3032, 3033, 3034, 3035, 3036, 4004, 4005, 5004, 5012, 5035 & 5036
• Three 2-person rooms on the 1^st floor
  • 1018, 1020 & 1021
• Fifteen 2-person rooms on the 4^th floor
  • 4014, 4015, 4016, 4019, 4020, 4021, 4022, 4023, 4024, 4025, 4027, 4028, 4029, 4030 & 4031

To support a variety of needs, some study rooms cannot be reserved.  They are:

• One single-person room on the 3^rd floor
  • 3048
• The ADA Accessible single-person rooms on the 4^th floor
  • 4026 & 4032
• Fifteen 2-person rooms on the 5^th floor
  • 5016, 5017, 5018, 5021, 5022, 5023, 5024, 5025, 5026, 5027, 5029, 5030, 5031, 5032 & 5033.

All non-reserved rooms will remain open and available on a first-come first-served basis.  Rooms will never be locked.  The Library reserves the right to cancel study room reservations.  The Library staff will notify the holder of any canceled reservation.

All study room reservations may be canceled by the Library staff if the minimum number of students as required below are not present during the reservation.  The Library staff must be notified by a group who meets the requirements below for the reservation to be canceled.

• At least 3 students are needed to reserve a 4-person room
• At least 4 students are needed to reserve a 6-person room
• At least 6 students are needed to reserve a 8-person room

The minimum number of students needed to use a conference room is posted on each room.

Adverse Possession Rule:

Adverse possession is only available during Library Service Hours.

The process begins once a student has notified the Library staff at the Patron Services Desk by requesting adverse possession of an empty room by room number.  (If the room is a group room, the requestor must have the requisite number of students for the room size).  Then, if the reserved room remains continually empty (including possessions) for 20 minutes, the Library staff will cancel the reservation.   So, students who reserve a room can be 20 minutes late without being subject to adverse possession.

Providing false information for the study room adverse possession process is considered a violation of Library Policies and may create a Student Conduct Code violation.

Reservation Parameters

• Students must use their STCL email to reserve rooms.
• Reservations must be confirmed to be valid.
• Each student can have 3 active reservations at a time.
• Each reservation can be up to 3 hours.
• Conference rooms can be reserved 4 days in advance of the reservation.
• 2-person rooms can be reserved 2 days in advance of the reservation.
• Only STCL Houston Students may Reserve Rooms. Exceptions to this can only be made by Library staff.

Student Study Room Capacity