A voice over the intercom echoes throughout the Cal State Long Beach. It is 15 minutes until closing time and a group of about 156 reluctant students pack books, headphones and computers into their backpacks and ready themselves for their trek back to dorm rooms, apartments or parents’ residences. Some are satisfied with the progress they’ve made. Most of them, however, agree that they would like to stay in the library and keep working.
“The library always closes once I get in the groove,” said CSULB accounting student Reyna Ruvalcaba. “Once I leave, it’s done. I’ll go home to comfy clothes and TV.”
This scenario is a common one for CSULB student Stephen Thomas, who found himself wishing he could stay in the library longer instead of going home to inevitable distractions.
His wish turned into a Facebook group that advocates for a 24 hour CSULB library.
“Students want to study more and they want to do it in a safe, friendly and comfortable environment,” Thomas said. “That’s what the library has to offer.”
Thomas’s group, “24-hour Library on Campus!!!,” seems to have a good student following. “About 3 percent of the total student body has joined the Facebook group, which makes up 6.7 percent of the CSULB students who use Facebook,” Thomas said. “Once I get to 1,800 I’ll be satisfied and ready to put in some real time into getting [the logistics] worked out.”
This still leaves more than half of the student body, who are not on Facebook or who do not have friends related to the group, silent on the subject.
Like Sherwin Souzankari, a CSULB student, students have used the group’s Facebook page to give their opinion on the matter.
“In this economy?” CSULB student Jairus O’Lawrence wrote on the group’s wall. “I’m not too sure about this.”
Other students expressed concerns about where the money spent would come from and what it could be used on that would be more beneficial to students and the campus.
“Do you think this would be the best thing right now because that would have to increase payroll to have people working and we are in a definite crisis?” CSULB student Jessica Ramirez said. “Also, people are not getting classes because of the budget cuts and having the library open 24 hours would put our student money there instead of elsewhere.
Henry Dubois, a library administrator, said, “Perhaps we could have this conversation next October, after the current state budget crisis has reached some kind of resolution, hopefully a resolution that will not be too damaging to our existing collections, programs and services.”
Dubois said that midterm and finals week are the busiest at CSULB.
During fall 2009, the library is scheduled to be open 72 hours during the week and 21 hours during the weekends.
According to the 2008-2009 CSULB Resource Planning Process Form 3, the library is “stretching our staff to their maximum capacity and we are concerned that any further budget deterioration will overtax them and cause degradation of services.”
Other students were more optimistic about where the money was going.
“This would be awesome,” Josh Willis said. “Maybe getting the security for those late hours could create a new job that students could fill making a few bucks.”
CSULB student Esha Mehta also felt convinced about giving unlimited library access to students.
“Putting our funding to keeping the library open 24 hours is a worthier cause than a recreational facility,” Mehta said.
Other students think it would be helpful for students who live with roommates.
“I think that be a great idea because people work and also have roommates. I know that with my roommates, it’s hard to do all my work,” said Kerri Gross, a junior biology major.
But some CSULB students do not find the idea appealing.
“It doesn’t really benefit me because I don’t use the library, but it would be nice for other students,” said David Macewan, a junior music major.
Along with concerns about money, some students, like dance student and library employee Hugo Diaz, said that it could potentially be dangerous and that there would need to be security, escort services and staff on duty. Diaz also pointed out that “as a commuter school most people want to go home at a decent time; I wouldn’t want to work here that late.”
CSULB student David Stewart thought that students were making up for poor study habits by trying to pull all-nighters. “Kids should get their stuff done and not procrastinate,” he said.
Although procrastination is a well-known art among some college students, others simply lead busy lives with restricted resources.
“I don’t have Internet at home,” said student Vincent Lueras. “It’s too expensive because there’s only one company to get Internet from in Seal Beach.”
Lueras also said he is taking a class in which the instruction puts books on reserve for students to rent out.
“Having the library open late would make it more convenient for me to get books from the reserve,” he said.
Students at other campuses in the U.S., such as UC Davis and Cal Poly, have 24 hour libraries with students who have said they are benefitting from the service.
UC Davis is one of the few California campuses that has a designated 24 hour study room, accessible to students by swiping their ID cards.
The room has no school-employed supervision, so students are asked to be quiet, courteous, take phone calls in the entrance hall, abstain from food or tobacco and make sure drinks are in containers with closed lids.
“Students leave garbage on the tables after eating food … you’re going to need the biggest receptacle on campus,” said Susan Macaulay, UC Davis library administrator. “People also swipe other students in, which means 10 to 12 students are getting in on one ID card.”
This might allow non-students entrance into the premises and could cause potential danger although nothing of the sort has ever occurred on the UC Davis campus.
“Very rarely do we have behavioral problems … the soap dispensers have been ripped off the wall and the soap has been thrown all around the room, but again this happens very rarely,” she said.
Macaulay also mentioned that she has arrived at the library to find the doors tied open allowing homeless people to use the facilities and camp out inside the room.
“The facilities are really for the students,” she said. “Students may not feel comfortable asking a homeless person to leave so they can use the last few seats.” Macaulay also explained how big of a success this study room has been and how much use it gets on a daily basis.
California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo opened a 24 hour student study area similar to UC Davis in 2007.
“Students have repeatedly asked for longer hours to support study in the library. We agree and will do everything possible to make this happen,” said Cal Poly’s dean of students, Michael D. Miller, in a 2008 press release.