Library Director Calls For 24/7 Study Space
While negotiations over library hours for term two are still ongoing, UCC’s Director of Library Services, Colette McKenna, confirmed they will be reworked to ensure the library can cope with the impact of semesterisation.While library hours are set to change for the coming term and will be re-evaluated again in advance of the next academic year, McKenna argued that the university as a whole needs to put greater emphasis on making 24-hour study space available to students.When asked about buildings other than the library being opened 24/7 for students to study in, she stated that “there are plenty of universities that provide 24/7. I’m a great believer in listening to student need and responding to that.”Plans are in place for such a space to exist in the new Student Hub, McKenna highlighted that this would “not help our current students,” adding that the university needed to be more proactive and not reactive when it comes to meeting the needs of students.
McKenna argued that the university as a whole needs to put greater emphasis on making 24-hour study space available to students.
The issue of library hours gained mass attention during early December when UCCSU organised a sit-in protest in response to the Boole Library’s closing times. However McKenna stressed that library hours were altered before the 2014/15 academic year had even begun, including an earlier opening time:“We thought we had responded well in what we felt would be the need in terms of longer opening hours.” Yet McKenna highlighted that as soon as the term had begun, the library experienced increased use, as students responded to the introduction of semesterisation.While the introduction of semesterisation may prove beneficial in the long-term, McKenna believes that student anger over library opening hours was a product of a failure to implement the new system in a way which would not place unnecessary stress on students.“We certainly picked up from all our interactions with students that they came seriously under pressure with the number of assignments they had and the number of class examinations, all of which coincided with having to revise for exams.”
McKenna believes that student anger over library opening hours was a product of a failure to implement the new system in a way which would not place unnecessary stress on students.
In a recent interview with The Express UCC President Michael Murphy argued that library staff would need to be more flexible if any lasting change was to be made following the student sit-in. But, for McKenna, such a claim ignored the efforts staff had already made to assist students following the introduction of semesterisation.In addition to accommodating to new work hours, the Director of Library Services argues that library staff worked even harder to assist students with the transition, with staff coming close to adopting the role of a counselling service for over-worked students at times.While much of the library’s recent attention has surrounded its opening and closing hours, staff are also working to increase the amount of information available to students digitally to cope with the demands of the new assessment system. Having recently picked up the award for ‘Excellence in the provision of services for a Digital Library’ at the Excellence in Business Awards, McKenna highlights that the library hopes to further develop this service, making more texts and information available “at any time, in any place, anywhere.”