SG passes library act, plans to research cost of 24/7 access

The extension of library hours and protection of technology in the library proposed last week passed on the senate floor during Tuesday’s meeting.

While the protection of technology in the library passed unanimously without debate, the library hour extension was a subject of debate for the second week in a row.

SG senator Ronald Pheils, who voted against the resolution, voiced concerns about the amount of research done on the subject, and talked about possibly exploring other options for study spaces.

“People are getting caught up on the idea of libraries,” he said. “Let’s do some research and see what we can open without incurring $100,000, roughly $100,000 in debt we don’t have. I’m not opposed to opening the library; what I’m opposed to is jumping in to something that hasn’t been supported by research.”

SG President Clayton Notestine said the resolution is proposing a further investigation into the cost of keeping the library open 24/7, not the specific spending of any amount.

“The legislation is not necessarily endorsing that we go ahead and spend the 100,000-and by the way, it is not specifically 100,000, that is an estimate,” Notestine said. “However, what it is basically going and trying to push is that they [administrators] look into where money could come from in order to do it.”

The final vote for the library hour extension was 21 in favor and 3 opposed.

Trisha Khambadkone, SG external affairs chair, voiced her support for the extension of library hours.

“We’re a university, a place of learning. In order to have the best resources to learn, I feel like as a university we should have a 24 hour policy,” Khambadkone said. “Everybody has different work schedules, study schedules and study habits and having a 24 hour policy, I think, is the best way to accommodate everybody.”

Marcia King-Blandford, interim director of university libraries, said in a previous interview that having student input has been helpful during the process of looking at library hours.

“We are trying to figure out what works for the students. The quieter floors, the noisier floors, soft seating, tables, group study rooms, tables with partitions, tables without partitions, those are all things we’re concerned about too,” she said. “So it was good to have the students really , have their voice at the table, and get to share this kind of information, something we don’t always get to do if students aren’t being vocally involved.”

Although the act passed, there will be no changes to the library hours this semester, according to Margaret Traband, vice provost of academic operations.

“This term, we will not have any alterations, because we don’t have the resources to do it. But we will be back open during the ten days for finals,” Traband said.

The decision on the extension for library hours and how it will be done should be decided by July 1.

“The budgeting process will begin in a new fiscal year, and the new fiscal year will begin July 1,” Traband said. “As we move towards that budget, that will actually be passed by the board, will it say a line in the budget, you know, ‘this is for the library to open 24 hours?’ No. But there will be a recognition that we’ll have some authorization to hire some additional people to do that if that’s what the decision will be made.”