The library’s hours have been extended this semester for both Fridays and Saturdays.
In past years, the library closed at 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, but after considering students’ requests the hours have been extended until 7 p.m. for the weekend.
Mark McCallon, assistant dean of Library Service, said the extension was a reasonable decision.
“We try to listen to the students and the Students’ Association asked if we could extend the weekend hours and that was a good request that we could do within our budget,” said McCallon.
Throughout the school year, students would consistently stay in the library until closing on Friday and Saturday, so when the Students’ Association made the suggestion, it was immediately taken into consideration.
“We saw that we still had students in the building even after we closed on weekends,” McCallon said.
McCallon said that the change in hours is expected to affect students who study in the library more than the librarians and student workers.
“Now, students who may not get off work until 5 p.m. will have the opportunity to study in the library in the early evenings,” McCallon said.
Budget was an essential concern in the decision to extend the library’s hours.
“We looked at the stats from the gates coming into the library and the amount of traffic at the front desk to determine whether to extend the library’s hours,” McCallon said. “Usage of the library was slower during the summer so we cut back the hours this summer from being open every day to being opened Monday through Saturday. Now we are utilizing the savings from cutting back on summer hours and it is being applied to our extended hours.”
Student workers and librarians have also been affected by the change in hours, but not to as great an extent as students who don’t work there.
“Student employees are still working the same number of hours” McCallon said. “We’ve just adjusted their hours to extend into the evening. Librarians and library staff are not required to stay past 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, so it won’t be much different for them.”
Whether the result of the extended hours is effective or not is too early to determine, though, according to desk worker Nathan Perritano, senior psychology major from San Antonio.
“This past weekend most students were out of the library by 7 p.m., except for about 20,” said Perritano. “It’ll probably change for midterms and finals but it will probably be the same besides that.”
There are different expectations for what will result in the change in hours, but overall it seems to be a positive change.
“Students will get to work those four extra hours,” Perritano said. “And students will be able to use the library longer.”
