A 24-hour weekday study space will soon be a reality for students.
LSU Libraries Dean Stanley Wilder said there are plans underway to keep the doors of Middleton Library’s bottom floor open through the night, five nights a week.
Wilder said during extended hours, Middleton will become a study hall, with fewer library services available to students than in the daytime. Only those with a Tiger Card will be able to enter the library from midnight to 6:30 a.m.
The library’s current hours are from 7:15 a.m. to midnight, and it is opened 24/7 during finals week each semester.
Wilder said it’s important to make the library a place where students can study late at night. He said there are few places for them to go at those hours and dorms may not be a good environment for them to get school work done.
Sigrid Kelsey, director of library communication and publications, said they hoped to have the building open 24/5 at the start of this semester, but they are still discussing solutions for keeping the building secure.
Kelsey said the media was not told about the library’s plans because they wanted to be ready to keep it open before telling students.
She said she had not spoken with Student Government, but was aware of their initiatives to find a 24-hour study space for students.
SG President Clay Tufts said SG is looking into a 24-hour study hall for students, either within the Student Union, or elsewhere on campus.
Texas A&M University’s on-campus library is open 24/5 and the University of Alabama’s is open until 2 a.m., according to both school’s websites. The University of Mississippi’s library is also open until 2 a.m. on weekdays.
Campus Transit will also extend its operating hours to pick up students from the Thomas Boyd parking lot near Middleton and drop them off at their residence halls until 3 a.m., Wilder said.
Wilder said the plans drawn up by architects to improve the library’s look and function last school year as a requirement for the University’s reaffirmation of accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges may not happen.
There is talk of abandoning Middleton in the future in favor of building a whole new library instead, Wilder said. However, there are no set of official plans for Middleton’s future except to extend hours for students.
He said instead of waiting for the library to undergo renovations they will provide the services students want most now.
Wilder said the library will keep track of the number of students who use it by a counter on the doors and by how many students check in with their Tiger Cards after midnight. These numbers will help the library gauge whether or not opening more levels is necessary.