By Charisma Anderson
Editors note: Since the interview with Eric Wheeler took place the library has reopened for the weekend currently from 2-10pm. However, these hours could change.
Students and staff appear to be having mixed feelings about the new library hours in place.
In the school year of 2018-2019 the library was available everyday for students with the hours shown below:
Sunday: 2:00pm-10:00pm
Monday-Thursday: 7:45am-12:00am
Friday: 7:45am-6:00pm
Saturday: 12:00pm-8:00pm
As of July 28th, it was decided that for the 2019-2020 school year the library hours would be as shown below:
Sunday: Closed
Monday: 7:45am-10:00pm
Tuesday-Friday: 7:45am-9:00pm
Saturday: Closed
Michelle Brady, a student pursuing her teaching credential at Simpson shared her thoughts on the new hours.
“I was upset to find out the hours of the library were changing, as I think University libraries should be open and accessible to students most of the time. It also doesn’t seem fair that students only have their dorm and the Bean Scene to go to at night and the weekends,” Said Brady.
With the loss of the library hours, Simpson has extended the hours of the Bean Scene to 12:00am, but a couple of students could agree that it doesn’t compare to having the library open till 12:00am.
Jessica Johnson, a Simpson nursing student said, “The Bean scene doesn’t have the same resources as the library like books or the ability to print assignments. It’s not an enforced quiet zone and it’s small, so it can be hard to study if people are being loud.”
Eric Wheeler, the head librarian shared his knowledge as for the reason of the changes in hours.
“Last year a lot of departments spent more than what their budget allowed, and that includes the Library. The school essentially had to raise a lot of money last year to cover up some of those expenses, and then there had to be spending cuts in that context. Leadership is currently prioritizing overdue campus maintenance to address aging buildings and other campus infrastructure. Since the Library is now operating with a reduced budget, I have chosen to prioritize Library resources such as research databases over hours of operation,” said Wheeler.
It will be an interesting school year to see how students and staff cope with the new changes to the library, but they can do this knowing that cutting back on expenses now will help the school in the future.
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