When looking at a computer scientist’s desk, it wouldn’t be uncommon to find scattered papers and sticky notes. Maybe the screen is flickering with lines of complicated codes. But among this chaos, one thing stands out: a rubber duck.
This atypical sight can be explained by rubber ducking, which is when people leave a rubber duck on their desk and talk it through difficult problems — a practice computer scientists use to problem solve.
Twenty-four-year-old CJ Ellward, Marston Science Library’s public services facilitator and Ask A Librarian site coordinator, said she believes this practice can also help students in their studying. But for her, the duck might be crocheted rather than rubber.
Ellward is the creator of most of Marston’s study buddies, the library’s collection of small, crocheted animals and plants that students can rent for two hours at a time. The buddies are all crocheted animals, including a caterpillar, flamingo and, most recently, a frog. While students’ time with their buddies are brief, Ellward said she finds some get quickly attached.
“With our study buddies, people check out the same one over and over, and you get companionship from this tiny frog [that] has seen me through my entire Calculus 3 class,” she said.
Students are also able to suggest a study buddy they would like to see, which is how the capybara, now one of Ellward’s favorites, came to be.
She started crocheting in 2020 as many people were picking up hobbies in the midst of the pandemic. She enjoyed the repetition of it and the variations she could make on one base stitch to create new pieces. Ellward was already making animals for herself and as gifts for others, but after beginning her work at the library, she decided to launch the study buddies program, which was inspired by Library West’s program that began in 2022.
Many students ask if they are able to purchase the study buddies, but as crocheting and knitting continue to gain popularity in what Ellward calls the “fiber arts Renaissance,” she encourages students to pick up the hobby themselves. She makes the patterns she uses available on the study buddies webpage.
“I always kind of pivot that conversation to, ‘Well, you could learn to crochet,’” she said. “‘It has a lot of mental health benefits.’”
Dakota Reeve, a 23-year-old UF architecture senior who works at Marston, remembers checking out the Dodo Bird study buddy. After that, he saw a steady increase in the study buddies’ popularity.
He said he views the study buddies as something to keep students company while they work in the library.
“It’s nice to have a little critter on standby,” he said. “To have a companion while you study.”
For Library West chair Stacey Ewing, students’ mental health is the primary focus on the library’s study buddy program. Their wellness initiatives include a Mindfulness Studio, stationary bikes and their plants. Library West’s study buddy program allows students to rent small potted plants rather than crocheted animals.
Ewing said the plant study buddies are the second most requested item, behind Anker portable chargers. The plants are cared for on the fifth floor of the library and brought down to the second for circulation, which is where students can rent them. Around two dozen plants are available at the library, and around eight to 10 are rented out per day.
The plant buddies system is a collaborative effort founded by Coleen Sailsman, a former UF undergraduate intern, and supported today by library staff. Ewing, whose fifth floor office is filled with greenery, said many of the plants come from her collection and the collections of her colleagues.
They trade plants and horticulture tips with one another. In Microsoft Teams, the library has a plant channel to facilitate their “circular system” of plant upkeep. If a plant needs extra care, library staff nurses it back to health before bringing it back to the circulation desk on the second floor.
“They call it the P-ICU,” Ewing said. “The plant ICU. So they'll set those [damaged plants] aside, and then we'll rehab those or put them out further, so they get even more humidity. Then those go back into circulation.”
The plant study buddies program began as only succulents but has since grown to include other plants, including tradescantia and begonia. Each of the plants are given names that start with “s” and labeled accordingly, so students can check out Sofia or Sven, for example.
Ewing said she views plants as a way to infuse life into the library and bring the “outside inside.” She enjoys seeing students post pictures of themselves studying with their textbooks, a coffee and a plant study buddy. She said she hopes the program is “meditative” and “comforting” for students who come to the library.
“We have so many students say the library is their second home,” she said.
Contact Juliana DeFilippo at jdefillipo@alligator.org. Follow her on X @JulianaDeF58101.
Juliana DeFilippo is a first-year journalism major and general assignment Avenue reporter. In her free time, she loves to read and work on crossword puzzles.
