By Zak Zeinert, Chief Photographer
From Nov. 30 through Dec. 12 Brown Library extended its hours of operation from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. Monday through Friday. The extension was intended to give students the opportunity to spend more time studying for finals.
However, many students believe this extension should be the normal schedule. Some find it irritating they cannot stay in the library past midnight, and others dislike the random times such as Wednesday nights when the library closes for an hour and a half at 6 p.m.
Zach Cook, junior business management and finance major from Carrollton, said he thinks the current library hours could use some amending.
“They’re horrible. For one, they close down for church and religious services. I think that a university that claims that you don’t have to be a Christian to go here shouldn’t close down stuff for religious reasons,” Cook said.
Mark Tucker, dean of Library and Information Resources, said the library hours barely have changed since he first began working at ACU.
“We have made some modest changes. We started opening at 1:30 p.m. on Sundays instead of 1 p.m. to allow workers to have lunch after church,” Tucker said.
He said requests have been made to open the library all day, every day, but logistically speaking, it is not something he can handle.
“That is very expensive, and we’re not funded to do that,” Tucker said. “That’s the best explanation I have.”
Cook said he can understand the library being closed Sunday mornings because not many people are on campus at that time, but he said the Wednesday night hours in particular make him angry.
“I think Sunday evenings and Wednesday nights should have normal hours. You can’t tell me that they can’t find someone to work those times,” Cook said.
Tucker said the main reason for closing on Wednesday nights is so staff members can attend church.
“I want to support the ability of my staff to lead a balanced life,” he said. “They need to balance work and their spiritual life.”
When Daniel Paul Watkins ran for Students’ Association president, one of his main goals was to extend library hours.
“It was weird for me coming to ACU and seeing the way library hours were handled. My brother went to a state school in North Carolina, and theirs was open 24/7,” Watkins said. “I was flabbergasted that the library closed at certain times on Wednesdays and Sundays and at midnight on most nights.”
Watkins said he was amazed that at a place of learning, the library hours would be so limited. He said that extending the hours will help shift the identity of the university and show that ACU has a strong emphasis on a studious environment.
“I don’t see a compelling reason not to expand library hours,” Watkins said. “But I do understand that expanding the hours comes at a cost and a high dollar amount.”
He said the extension during finals week of the semester was basically a test run of his original intentions.
“Extending the hours would mean the staff would have extended hours, and after last year’s low enrollment, there wasn’t enough room in the budget,” Watkins said. “After learning that, I thought it’d be a good idea to extend hours during finals week as a pilot of my original intention.”
Tucker said he does not rule out the possibility of extending the library’s hours, but he is unsure of what circumstances would call for an extension.
“Because it is a mission, people work hard and make sacrifices, sometimes for less pay; they give up their lives for this institution,” he said. “I don’t want that to happen; I want there to be a good balance.”
Preston Woolfolk, junior political science, international relations and management major from San Antonio, works at the front desk of the library and said he prefers the current library hours.
“I like it because those are shifts I would have to fill. So for me, it’s nice to not have to be able to work during church. Also I can catch up on sleep,” Woolfolk said.
The current standard library hours are: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays, 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to midnight on Sundays and 7 a.m. to midnight on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Wednesdays follow the same schedule as Monday through Friday with the exception of a brief church intermission from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Watkins said the library hours will continue to be a topic of conversation at SA meetings this semester.
“I think that even if it comes as a dollar cost to SA, it’s our duty to advocate this for students,” Watkins said. “It’s SA’s job to enrich students life on campus. If we can expand, even just extending hours on Wednesday and Sunday, I think that will make a huge difference.”
