By Daniel Johnson-Kim, Editor in Chief

Students can make use of the extra study time when the Brown Library extends its hours of operation beginning Nov. 30 until Dec. 12.

The library will open at its usual times: 1:30 p.m. on Sundays, 9 a.m. on Saturdays and 7 a.m., Monday until Friday, but will extend its closing time to 3 a.m. every day.

Students’ Association Rep. Kyle Moore, senior accounting major from Double Oak, began this initiative after speaking with students on campus about their concerns when it came to the library’s closing policy at midnight and the limited study hours available for finals. He said many students have loaded schedules with latenight jobs and classes that require them to study late.

He discussed the issue with Mark Tucker, dean of Library and Information Sources.

“Tucker has wanted to do this for a while; he was very helpful and was the key member in getting this initiative going,” Moore said.

While Moore is excited about the success of extending the library hours during pre-final and finals week, he said, “The next thing to consider would definitely be when the library closes for church on Wednesday and Sundays.” However, he predicts that change will not be seen for some time due to the policy ACU and its affiliation has taken.

Karen Hendrick, head of Public Services, also played a role in the initiative by putting out calls for more student workers, speaking with Starbucks staff members to see if the café would continue to stay in operation and contacting Residence Life to address the issue of freshman curfew during the extended hours. She still is waiting for an answer from Residence Life but has high hopes it will allow students to utilize
the extended hours.

Hendrick emphasized that determining the library hours while keeping the library fully staffed and operating is not an easy issue but has everything to do with funding.

“We look at all entities as minimum wage goes up; we have a smaller unit of money to pay students and staff,” Hendrick said.

The library is using its gift funds to pay for the extended hours this year.

As for future initiatives, Hendrick said, “It’s a pilot project; we can take a count to see how much it’s used-we are not providing a lot of service at this time, just a place for people to stay and do research.”