The library will now close at 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday starting April 7 to provide more accessibility to Biola students and faculty.
Increase in hours
At the beginning of spring 2016 the library began opening a half hour earlier Monday through Thursday. In addition to the later hours, the number of open hours has increased by a total of seven and a half hours per week. This makes the Biola library competitive with peer schools as well as Ivy League institutions.
Gregg Geary, dean of the library, examined the open hours of other universities across the country. Biola’s library, open approximately 90 hours per week, fell slightly behind other institutions, which averaged 100 to 110 hours a week.
“I surveyed all of the other public and private institutions in the southern California area as well as peer institutions across the country, meaning similarly sized Christian private institutions as well as Ivy League institutions,” Geary said. “We compared our hours of operation to their hours of operation and these changes puts us up in the ballpark of about what they have: a little over 100 hours a week.”
changes after requests
Geary and his staff made the changes in response to the feedback forms from students who requested longer hours.
“I am very cognisant of the cost that students incur to go [Biola] and we want to get them a very good value for their investment,” Geary said. “The best thing a library can do is be open and be accessible.”
Jimmi Knight, senior music major and library worker, believes that although people who tend to stay up late would enjoy the extra open hour, she would not like to work that late.
“This is my last semester and I have another job that I work in the morning, so if I were to stay here until 1 a.m., that wouldn’t give me enough sleep,” Knight said.
significant construction and expenses
Olivia Bernstein, junior chemistry major and library worker, likes the option of having the extra hour available to study.
“I have stayed here…until 2 a.m. [during extended finals hours]. I don’t like to stay that late, but I have,” Bernstein said.
Geary mentioned tentative library renovations that would allow the reading room to stay open 24 hours, but would require significant construction and expenses. Renovations would include new passkeys, cameras and a new structuring of walls and doors to allow access to the bathrooms, but states that it is not worth the cost.
