Everyone wants 24 hour library -how hard is it to figure that out?!
Interim Associate University Librarian for Public Services Barbara Anderson replies.....
It's not hard at all to figure this one out! Students have been loud and clear in their request for Cabell Library to be open 24 hours a day, and we are delighted by such avid and enthusiastic library users!
By now, I hope you will have noticed that we are conducting a 3-week trial this semester called Library Lite All Nite in which we are open with limited library services for 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. It is quite an expensive and complicated proposition to keep a large facility like Cabell Library open around the clock. During these 3 weeks we will be assessing costs, staffing and service issues, and we will be looking closely at the extent to which students are using the library for study and research overnight. Whether we are able to continue offering 24-hour building hours during future semesters or exam periods will depend on what we learn from this year's Library Lite All Nite experiment and on the library's 2005/06 funding.
One comment that we hear frequently from students runs something like this: "Other schools have 24 hour libraries, why not us?" This is a true statement, but it is also true that very few schools comparable to VCU offer this service. Among Virginia's doctoral institutions, only the University of Virginia has a 24-hour library facility and that is its separate undergraduate library (Clemons). UVA's main library, Alderman, is actually open fewer hours than Cabell Library as are the main libraries of all other public universities in the Commonwealth!
Among the 24 universities considered to be VCU's peer institutions, only 2 (University of Arizona and University of Kentucky) keep their main libraries open 24 hours throughout the semester, and 4 additional institutions offer 24 hour service during exam periods, but only for 1 week. Only 5 of the peer institution libraries are open as late as Cabell Library's normal 2 a.m. closing.
To all of you students who think it's a good idea to stay up all night studying in the library or anywhere else I say, "Go home! Go to bed! Get some sleep, for Pete's sake!" Have you gotten this far in life without learning that good study habits and the ability to retain information go hand in hand with being well-rested?! You're grown-ups now, and it's time to start figuring out how to manage your time and plan ahead to do what you need to do. Stop putting things off until the very last possible minute!
I say this as a mom AND as a librarian. If you're still awake, go check out the literature on this. And you don't need a research specialist to dig this up, either. I know you've used Google before...
Take, for example, "Sleep-wake patterns and academic performance in university students," a scholarly research paper presented by A. Gomes, et al., at the 2002 European Conference on Educational Research (http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00002200.htm ), which includes this statement, based on the authors' review of 17 journal articles on the connection between academic functioning and sleep-wake variables: "The most consistent findings were that lower academic results were associated with less sleep duration..., with later bedtimes / sleep onse... and with later rise times / awakening times..."
According to Georgia Tech's Technique Focus (http://new.nique.net/issues/2002-11-22/focus/1 ), "sleep deprivation...can negatively affect one's ability to do well on finals. Information from the Georgia Tech Wellness Center shows a direct correlation between sleep deprivation and lowered academic performance. It's shown to cause a decrease in one's vital test taking skills, including attention span, ability to concentrate, memory and cognitive judgment."
The February 13 2002 issue of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Polytechnic Online newsletter (http://www.poly.rpi.edu/index.php3?IssueID=39 ) carries a similar warning to students who choose cramming over sleep: "Several recent studies have clearly demonstrated that the loss of REM sleep creates a dramatic reduction in the retention of recently learned information. If the sleep cycle is reduced by even two hours, much of what was read or studied earlier that night may be lost. Consequently, learning efficiency is also reduced and grades may be negatively affected."
Well, duh! Figure it out people! Staying up all night isn't good for your health and it's not good for your grades. The library is a great place to study - but not when you should be sleeping!
Ultimately what the people crying for a 24 hour library fail to realize is that it costs money. It's the same people who want cheaper tuition, meal plans, more parking, etc, etc, etc. Running a school and library takes money that just doesn't come out of anywhere. How happy will these folks be when they get their 24 hour library but their tuition goes up?
Personally, I'll pay the increase, I like the idea of a 24 hour library, especially if it's rare for the state (look at VCU, what a trendsetter!).
I'm kinda of mixed but if it means more people would go to the library, mor power to them b/c i know i get so hectic that when i study at home i barely get anyhting done... not too sure, if it keeps the young-us away from the bars...
"Among the 24 universities considered to be VCU's peer institutions, only 2 (University of Arizona and University of Kentucky) keep their main libraries open 24 hours throughout the semester"
^ Well that settles it, then -- I should have gone to the University of Arizona! ;) I was actually born in Tucson and it was my second choice after VCU. While you're right that most other universities' main libraries aren't open 24 hours, I would proffer that a much higher percentage of universities offer a 24-hour study area for students to use when the main library is closed. People don't necessarily need to check out books at all hours of the night, but it is nice to have somewhere to study. Sleep problems aside, I just tend to do my best work from 12-6 in the morning. And who couldn't help but study overnight before finals? Pulling all-nighters is what college is all about!
It would be nice if we all had early bedtimes like our mothers tell us to have, but in reality there aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done, and the wee hours of the morning can be the most productive for some people. It just makes sense to have somewhere open -- if not the library, then some kind of computer lab/lounge hybrid -- for people to go and get their work done. Honors students already have access to their own facility like this, but there is currently no equivalent for the VCU general population.
Oh, and P.S. thanks for doing Library Lite All Nite! A 24-hour library is nice to have even if only a few weeks out of the semester.