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Library open 24 hours for exams |
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Thursday, 10 April 2008 |
by BRITTANY PENLAND
Intern News Reporter
Finding
a quiet place to study for finals just got easier as Belk Library &
Information Commons will be open 24 hours a day during the exam period.
Round
the clock hours will be in effect April 27 through May 7. Throughout
the period, the library’s only close will be from midnight to 12:30
p.m. May 4.
“It’s nice to know I can go to the library whenever I want and also not everyone will be there at one
time,” freshman physical education major Cindy K. Melton said.
Appalachian State University public relations and research librarian Megan Johnson said students have
asked to extend library hours during exams and this year the Student Government Association formally
proposed the idea to the Library Service Board.
 The Belk Library & Information Commons will remain open 24 hours per day during the exam period. Photo by Anna Donlan
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SGA President Forrest Gilliam said the new exam schedule better meets the needs of many college students.
“We have so many students who work a job somewhere until midnight or even 2 a.m. and they need
a place to go [study] that is safe. It is a schedule that is more realistic for today’s college student,”
Gilliam said.
Finding
a quiet place to study for finals just got easier as Belk Library &
Information Commons will be open 24 hours a day during the exam period.
Round
the clock hours will be in effect April 27 through May 7. Throughout
the period, the library’s only close will be from midnight to 12:30
p.m. May 4.
“It’s nice to know I can go to the library whenever I want and also not everyone will be there at one
time,” freshman physical education major Cindy K. Melton said.
Appalachian State University public relations and research librarian Megan Johnson said students have
asked to extend library hours during exams and this year the Student Government Association formally
proposed the idea to the Library Service Board.
SGA President Forrest Gilliam said the new exam schedule better meets the needs of many college
students.
“We have so many students who work a job somewhere until midnight or even 2 a.m. and they need a
place to go [study] that is safe. It is a schedule that is more realistic for today’s college student,”
Gilliam said.
Safety precautions will be taken to monitor those who enter the building after 2 a.m. and students will
be required to swipe their AppCard at the entrance, associate university librarian Ann Viles said.
 The Belk Library & Information Commons will remain open 24 hours per day during the exam period. Photo by Anna Donlan
|
Four security guards will be in the building checking for a valid identification. Those who do not have an
ID will be asked to leave, Viles said.
“The library is open to the community or people who travel here all the time, but we have decided that
between 2 a.m. and 7:30 in the morning, it’s only open to those with a valid [Appalachian] ID and that’s
really just a security measure,” Johnson said.
Study rooms will also close and laptops will be due at 2 a.m. during the extended exam hours. The
fourth floor will close at 10 p.m. and the reference desk of the library will close at midnight.
“I think this building has turned out to be a place where people feel really comfortable to come and
study, study in groups and study alone,” Viles said. “It seems to be the most popular information
commons.”
There are over 50 laptops and 380 public workstations available to students in the library, as well as
the already-available 24-hour, five days a week space for students in the Atrium and Cyber Café area.
There are 17 computers ready for use in the Cyber Café.
“I really think it’s just an expansion of the services that we already have. For a lot of students, their
dorms are noisy and it’s hard to study, so hopefully this will give people a quiet place where there is
good light, lots of computers and it will just be an opportunity to study,” Johnson said.
Johnson also said the library will probably provide doughnuts or coffee to give students a study break
during the night.
The library plans to be open to students for 24 hours during the upcoming fall midterms as well, Viles
said.
“[In the future] I think the library will keep the 24 hours during exams and I hope that the pilot goes well.
I have already talked to next year’s administration for Student Government Association and they are
committed to following up on these things and constantly watching to see if there are ways we can
approve our library services,” Gilliam said.
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