Seattle University's new library creates casual, social place to study

Over the summer, Western Washington University also took steps to create a "learning commons" area in its Wilson Library, where students can pull together whiteboards, plug in their laptops, rearrange the seating and collaborate on projects. The library has also added a bagel cafe on the first floor.

As you go up, each floor of the library becomes successively quieter, so students seeking calm spaces need only to go to the next level, said Chris Cox, dean of libraries for Western.