The Paul and Rosemary Trible Library has experienced quite a few changes. Mary Sellen, a CNU librarian, explained there were many different reasons for these changes.
Sellen said that budget cuts included databases that had low usage for a long period of time, along with eliminating some hourly staff positions that had not been filled for a couple of years.
Sellen considered her department lucky, because in her mind, “None of this stuff really affected any kind of services”
The library hours have been changed from 24/7 to being closed during the hours of 1:00 AM and 7:30 AM. Sellen said the library staff has been doing head counts of students during those times for the past four or five years. Throughout the duration of those head counts, they learned there were not many students utilizing those hours except for at midterms and finals. The reduction of hours saves the library money from no longer having to pay overnight security.
Sellen said that keeping the library open 24/7, “Was really, really impractical.” and added that “It’s been a long, long trajectory towards this decision.”
However, three weeks before both midterms and finals, the library will remain open 24/7 to accommodate students studying for exams.
The reason the hours were switched back for midterms and finals was because of the reaction from students that Sellen saw. She said, “I went back to my numbers and they were not horrible. So I’ve felt we can tweak these a little bit to address that concern.”
Sellen also said that anyone can email her about any issues they might have. She says she welcomes feedback and wants to hear from the students.