A SENSORY-FRIENDLY STUDY-WEEK PROGRAM
Low-Sensory Lo-Fi Day
Creating Calm in the Library for Student Success
SUNYLA 2026 · SUNY Brockport · Wednesday, June 17, 2026
More than three-quarters of college students report moderate or high stress (American College Health Association, 2024), and finals week concentrates it into a few high-stakes days. Elevated stress, anxiety, and depression are linked to weaker cognitive control and lower task accuracy (Walia et al., 2026), exactly the capacities finals demand.
Many students already study with music playing in the background. Lo-fi, the mellow, looping instrumental hip-hop emblematized by the Lofi Girl livestream (Zeng & Sobande, 2026), has become a default study soundtrack. A pilot study found listening to it significantly reduced state anxiety in young adults (Dsouza et al., 2024), and a randomized study found focus music improved sustained attention and lowered physiological arousal relative to silence (Kirk et al., 2022).
How a de-stressing event is designed matters as much as whether it happens: finals-week wellness events can backfire when they are loud and performative (Wilson, 2026). Low-Sensory Lo-Fi Day, launched in Fall 2024 at the State University of New York at Fredonia by a library student intern and their librarian site supervisor, positions the library as a calming retreat for students during study week.
Every screen in the library ran the same live Lofi Girl stream, with the audio over the speakers. We rounded it out with free coffee, tea, cookies, and fidget tools. A low-cost, low-tech model any library can adopt.
Students choose their comfort level: calm but communal, or fully quiet. Intentional environmental choices support diverse sensory needs.
Lo-Fi, Library Proper
Calm but communal, the social heart of the event.
Quiet Retreat, Library Classroom
A true low-stimulus space for students overstimulated by sound.
Library-led, wellness-aligned. We coordinated lo-fi day with programming that already existed.
Co-scheduled with their Destress for Success week and Paws to Relax therapy-dog visits, plus other week-long library activities.
Small grants fund catering: coffee, tea, and cookies.
Students tabling during semesters they were active.
Student group that stocked the event with snacks and supplies: ramen, sports drinks, granola bars, pens, and more.
A low-budget, multi-channel push met students where they already were:
“I’m going to have to come to the library more often.”A Fredonia student, finals week
“Lo-Fi Day was such a breath of fresh air during stressful finals. It gave me a chance to relax after studying and finishing finals.”A Fredonia student, finals week
Busiest day since pre-pandemic. Apart from new-student orientation, Lo-Fi Day has drawn the library’s highest single-day traffic in years.
From pilot to tradition. What began as a Fall 2024 pilot now runs every fall and spring (Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026), with more to come.
Stronger partnerships. Cross-campus collaboration positioned the library as a wellness partner.
Positive reaction from all library staff, including circulation clerks and student workers: “There is such a buzz on Lo-Fi Day.”
- American College Health Association. (2024). American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment III: Undergraduate student reference group data report spring 2024. bit.ly/44gNmDb
- Dsouza, M. P., Shetty, A., Shwetha, T. S., Damodar, P., Pai, A. A., Mathias, R. J., D'Souza, S., & Lewis, N. T. (2024). 'I would want to listen to it as a medicine': Lo-fi music and state anxiety, a mixed-methods pilot study on young adults. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 29(1), Article 2388787. doi.org/rbss
- Kirk, U., Ngnoumen, C., Clausel, A., & Purvis, C. K. (2022). Effects of three genres of focus music on heart rate variability and sustained attention. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, 6(2), 143–158. doi.org/gtpqhv
- Walia, Y., Gupta, R. K., & Tripathi, S. (2026). The impact of depression, anxiety, and stress on cognitive conflict in university students. Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 43(3), 411–417. doi.org/rbst
- Wilson, G. (2026). "If I'm not stressed, why am I even here?": Exploring narratives of student mental health and belonging on campus. Journal of American College Health, 74(4), 1058–1067. doi.org/rbsv
- Zeng, N., & Sobande, F. (2026). Lofi Girl, cultural politics, and dichotomies of digital slowness and productivity. Journal of Gender Studies. Advance online publication. doi.org/rbsw
Scan for a planning toolkit with activity menu, marketing templates, supply lists, and more.
bloom.windandpages.com/lofi →Questions about this program? Email Christina.Hilburger@fredonia.edu