Late nights just got later for students wanting safe and quiet study spaces. Starting on Sunday, Oct. 4, at 11:59 p.m., the first floor of Pius XII Memorial Library will remain open 24 hours on weekdays.
Michael Harriss, Student Government Association president, advocates this change.
“I think it is always the right time for a 24-hour library; it accommodates the needs of current students. . We are an academic institution first and foremost, and [studying] definitely holds priority over a lot of things,” Harriss said.
The new hours represent a semester-long pilot program, and the extended hours remain in effect until Dec. 15. Throughout the semester, the number of students using Pius at its extended hours will be recorded; a similar pilot program gathered data during the spring semester as the library extended its hours during midterms and finals.
Harriss presented the data collected during that period to the President’s Coordinating Council on Aug. 25. The PCC approved a semester-long pilot program. While the 24-hour library is not yet permanent, the program will gather data to explore long-term possibilities.
“That’s the next step we are trying to take, to see what kind of long-term commitment we can get from the University for this initiative,” Harriss said.
“We only had data for exam weeks, so now [with the new program], we can understand if students need this when it isn’t during midterms and finals,” he said.
The collected data will represent the number of students who enter the library after midnight on weekdays.
Besides counting the totals from the entrance’s swipe-card system, the staff on hand will keep count of the number of students that enter by the hour.
“I think [the 24-hour library] is something the students wanted very much, and we want to accommodate them; service is the priority of the library and the academic needs of the students come first,” Pius’ Director, David Cassens, said. “I think [numbers will spike] during midterms and finals, but let’s see how [the students] will use it during the rest of the semester.”
According to Cassens, the library has also received additional financial support from SGA and Student Development to hire two student workers to cover two different shifts during the night.
The total costs of extending the hours of library operation are estimated to be around $19,000 to $22,000, according to Harriss.
SGA was primarily responsible with providing the funding for this project, which they did through various donations and by tapping into their special projects funding.
“The agreement that we made in PCC was that [SLU President Lawrence Biondi, S.J.] wanted me to find money to fund this project,” said Harriss. “We recieved a lot of support from Student Development, [Department of Public Safety] and Facilities to make this happen.”
DPS will also be providing an officer from 11 p.m. to around 7 a.m.
Facilities Services has agreed to cover any additional heating and lighting costs during the extra time period.
Housekeeping will be assigning late shifts to clean the bathrooms and to refill toiletries in the building, and Café Libros is projected to stay open until 2 a.m.
