Prifti always last to leave the Library

Janitor Artur Prifti, who has been a Vassar employee for six years, works the night shift at the Thompson Memorial Library. He is responsible for ensuring that the campus Library is fit to close. Night after night, he rings the infamous Library closing bell to alert students that they must leave the building, checks to see that no stragglers are hanging around after 1:30 a.m., and, finally, locks the doors. Luckily, he says, the lights turn off by themselves.

Prifti changes light bulbs, fixes and cleans everything you can think of, and helps students with "whatever they might need" after other employees have left the building.

Usually his workday starts at 9 p.m. night and lasts until 2 a.m. Although if the College occasionally needs him during the day, he says, he is willing to work then, too. Indeed, Prifti is the Library's last visitor. "After 1:30, I am the only person in the building," he says. Prifti's office is located in the elusive Library basement and is hidden from the visual radars of students preoccupied with their books and their visits to Matthew's Bean.

Originally from Albania, Prifti came to Poughkeepsie with his wife and children 12 years ago. Working at Vassar alone isn't enough to support the needs of his family, so as some other campus workers do, he works a second job. In addition to his evening employment at Vassar, he works in the home improvement and construction industry during the daytime–"heavy" work, he says, that often requires him to be outside in cold weather.

Whether he sees it as a perk or a drawback isn't clear, but his work at Vassar certainly gives Prifti a chance to interact with the late-night bookworms at the Library. Prifti reports that Vassar students are a surprisingly well-behaved bunch. He has "never seen any students" doing anything­­—he clears his throat—out of the ordinary at night in the Library. Not all, though, according to Prifti, are aware that the Library has a closing time. He says, "I've seen students come really late, like around 2 a.m., and then turn around." Then there are students who won't leave. He remarks that he has found students sleeping and has needed to wake them up. "I just make noises," he reports, laughing, "at least enough to make them hear the closing bell and let them know they need to get out."

Prifti sees a lot in the fairly unique facet of Vassar nightlife that is the Thompson Library, but "never anything, you know, funny, though." Prifti is a man of few, but well-chosen words, and he adds with a smile, "But then again, there are a lot of rooms in this building."