Martyrs’ Kirk (postgrads only)
Ostensibly the quietest place to study in town, with a culture of absolute silence, this library is perfect for extremely disciplined, silent, concentrated reading, or for a two-hour burst of thesis writing. I try to schedule a small burst of Martyrs Kirk – it’s a very potent, powerful, contemplative drug, and if you can only ever study in here you have the discipline of an ancient Carthusian mystic. You might find it annoying, for example, that there are no actual real books here that aren’t some sort of tome, or that there’s not even a space for light chatter somewhere off-stage.
Main Library
This gets very full in term time. There is supposed to be a quieter bit downstairs, with a little bivouac of a postgrad area, but it’s usually not very quiet, with reels of lads talking about their hunting ventures. You can book study spaces.
Byre Theatre
A former cow shed or whatever, people apparently study in here, but I’ve never fully understood why, with mills of the professional cultured class rifling through its plate-glass-stone faux-London beauty. It’s true, however, that it’s a big building, and you might be able to find somewhere to study on the second or third floor.
Old Burgh School
The home of St. Leonard’s College, this is a quiet building with a stable cast of people who know about it and work there. It’s a supportive community that feels reliably “adult” and enough like a workplace that you often feel guilty enough to get work done. Too much time there, however, might lead to chronic lack-of-inspiration-itis, as you forget that you are supposed to be at St. Andrews to be inspired, or half-inspired, not put together some sort of marketing Excel spreadsheet. If it’s any consolation, however, my son loves it here.
Outside
Should I admit to you, gentle, sensitive reader, infirm of heart, that I have actually done a huge amount of my PhD reading atop a croodling sycamore outside the Brutalist edifice of the Main Library? What I find handy about it is it’s proximity to the library, where the actual books are. But there are other outside locations where study may be carried out, such as St. Salvator’s Quad and a few church courtyards, such as just outside All Saint’s Church on North Castle Street, or on the East and West Sands. I have also done a huge amount of my work in a tiny little grove near Ayton House.
Cafés and pubs
I think the only pub or café I have ever worked in in town is Aikman’s. I have worked once or twice in The Canny Soul and the Granary Café in St Andrews Museum, both of which seem to be cafés that people don’t often meet for dates or gawp at gigantic statues of William and Kate in.
Squidditas 