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| Library work-in works out for EUSA |
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Originally published on March 23rd 2010 Monday night's student organized library work-in got off to an appropriately quiet start, with all floors of the library open and students hard at work.
The EUSA sponsored work-in was planned and executed with the full cooperation of library staff, despite them not receiving overtime pay during the work-in. EUSA Vice-President Academic Affairs Evan Beswick said last Monday that he hoped the work-in would facilitate “a really grown-up discussion about how much the university provides students with in regards to services. At the moment, they’re throwing 200 people out of the library every night – which to us is a bit ridiculous. If we can get to a position where that’s not the case, it would be great.” All four EUSA sabbatical officers were in attendance on Monday, including President Thomas Graham who said that he would consider a 24 hour library to be a successful end to his tenure at EUSA. As of 11:30pm on Monday, according to library figures gathered from the scan-in machines, there were around 500 people in the library. An hour later, numbers had fallen to 378. Director of Library Services Sheila Cannell, who was on hand at the beginning of the evening, told The Student “From my point of view it’s all about resources. If we have a 24 hour library, we have to not do something else. I wonder whether students appreciate that, the choice will be between more opening hours or more books in the HUB, though I do think the hours are a bit short.” Cannell also voiced concerns that keeping the library open 24/7 might make it seem as though the University is condoning working late. But she added, “Letting the University know how students feel is important.” Cannell said she was impressed by the amount of work being done during the Monday work-in. Midnight, the usual closing hour for the library, was greeted with a countdown and cheers, quickly followed by semi-joking cries of ‘Now get back to work!’ Third year Economics student Michael Hutson told The Student he was attending the work-in because “when you get to Honours years, you often have a lot of deadlines in a very short amount of time, and you have to make use of every hour. I need books for my subjects which are only available in the library, so Hugh Robson isn’t of as much use to me open 24 hours as the library would be.” Hugo Gillibrand, a fourth year Archaeology student said “the provision of 24 hour work space is appalling. Arguing that the Hugh Robson lab is a replacement for the Main Library is like arguing that fizzy water can replace champagne; they might superficially look the same, but the substance is fundamentally different and you need both at all hours.”
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Good for you. Keep up the good work.