24 hour library
Categori: Facilities
Actions for SU
For the Students’ Union to lobby the University to extend the opening hours of the Lampeter library, particularly during the weekend and in assignment deadline periods.
Progress
Josh Whale and Bea Fallon met with Library staff and Student Experiecne staff to discuss extended hours around assignemnt and exams periods. The Library have organised to be open their usual time (8:30am - Midnight) during the last week of the easter holidays, as well as first Bank Holiday in May (7th, 10am-7pm) in the lead to May deadlines.
In light of the recent Snow Days, the University are now looking to set policy around extended deadlines where the University is closed suddently for reasons outside their control, so any hours lost in the library will hopefully be given back to students. Update soon on this.
Date Passed
25/01/18
Sabb
Josh Whale
Staff
Bea Fallon
If you search "24 hour library university" on google, you will find an array of universities offer this opportunity, but somehow not all of our campuses do. It's understandable that it's difficult to find staff to cover late hours but is it not possible to have a card system like there are on halls so we are able to get into the library and the porters come around now and again to check on it?
For students like me who work evenings and are in lectures and meetings during the regular 9-5 hours it would be a lot easier if i could access the library at any given time.
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Sylwadau
First off I'd like to say I don't speak on behalf of the library, I'm just a casual worker and these are all me own opinions. I know that this has been a topic of discussion for a long time, but from my experience working in the library (as a direct result of the midnight library changes) I can tell you first hand that the library staff are spread thin enough with these changes already. A member of 'security' has to be present the whole time as there is a lot of expensive equipment and books on the premises, so there's no way that they would be able to use a key card system like you've suggested, and they do not have enough funding to have someone present the whole night. I also know that the midnight library is not popular enough to extend to 24 hours. On most nights the library is empty by 10 anyway, even last year with diss deadlines the max it ever got by midnight would be around 6-10 people which is not economical enough to stay open for 24 hours. I understand that a lot of people's schedules mean that not everyone can access the library at the right time, but that's why the blue room has been set up for study, previously banded books are being taken off and available for loan, and the online e-books and journals are constantly expanding, all to make accessing the library's information easier. If you need to access information from the library, that can be done from outside the library at any time without the need of 24 hour library, but if you're looking for a place to quietly study, there is the blue room and the founders library that are (I believe) always available.
I'm a student at UWTSD Carmarthen and I am studying abroad in Norway for the first semester of year 2. The university here has a 24 hour library. The system works flawlessly, where the student ID card allows us access to the main enterence doors which access the hallway to get to the library from there the ID card again is used to get into the library. No staff are here to keep an eye on students but the whole library is accessible to all and is super useful, especially for those who like to work late or sacrifice a few hours of sleep for the essay due in tomorrow. The system which you have to use the ID for means that all other doors are closed off to students. However the campus is away from student housing so it does prevent the drunk students accessing the building during the unstaffed hours. this hasn't been an issue even with the student union house being opposite the library. I think a 24 hour access library will be extremely useful and I would hugely appreciate it if it was.
24 hours would be nice but probably not very practical for staffing, Opening until 9pm again would be a really helpful start.
My previous University in Lithuania had the same library hours, which then after appealing with SU extended to 24 hours during exam sessions, and have employed students for minimum wages for the night shifts while during the day staff member resumes the work, As all libraries have IDcard reader and detectors , not to allow any book to pass without borrowing , it might be a good idea to install CCTV if there are doubts of some damage that might occur