The midnight exodus of late-night studiers from Baker-Berry Library will be pushed back to 2 a.m. on weeknights starting in the 2005-2006 academic year, Provost Barry Scherr informed Student Assembly leaders Friday afternoon. Later hours will take effect some time in the Summer term, according to Scherr.
The $40,000-plus annual cost associated with keeping the library staffed an extra 10 hours each week will come from the provost's discretionary fund until it is incorporated into the library's permanent budget, Scherr said.
The provost's student budget advisory committee first brought the library hours issue to his attention in the fall. Although providing more money for acquisitions has been a "primary effort" in library budget matters, Scherr said concerns over library hours "came along as something that was of great, great interest to students."
"This particular item seemed to come much more to the fore this past year," Scherr said.
Assembly leaders on the Academic Affairs committee spearheaded the lobbying effort for longer hours, conducting research on peer institutions' policies and a winter campus-wide survey in which three-quarters of respondents said they wanted to study in the library until 2 a.m. or later.
"I was really unsure if it would work because I know the budget is really tight and there's a lot of different groups pushing for funding," academic affairs committee chair Russ Lane '06 said. But Lane, who also serves on the advisory committee that initially brought the issue to the provost's attention, said that the proposal had a better chance because of the poll results and the Assembly's backing.
The answer was a "no" in mid-April, according to Student Body President Julia Hildreth '05, who said library heads had used the Assembly's research to press the provost for additional funding necessary for the hours extension.
"We were under the impression that because of budgetary constraints the provost wasn't able to extend the library's budget for the upcoming year," Hildreth said.
In response, the Assembly passed an April 26 resolution urging the provost to extend library hours for Sunday through Thursday nights and offering to fund staffing itself to extend hours for the week preceding Spring term finals.
"[It was] only after we passed the statement that the provost decided to fund with his own funding for the next year," Hildreth said, adding that the administration is "increasingly responsive to student demands."
Lane said Scherr is known within the Assembly as being "very, very responsive" to student needs, as well as a strong supporter of the library system.
"When you have a group of students who are really passionate about an issue, and when that issue is important to the student body, administrators are really, really looking to work with you," Lane said. "It was a priority of the student body, it was a priority of the Student Assembly and it just got done."
