Update 10/06:
Per email on Oct. 6, Director of Library Communications and Publications Sigrid Kelsey said the first, second, third and fourth floors of Middleton Library will be available for studying until midnight. She said after midnight, only the first floor will be available for students. The change is a result of student requests and is effective after the week of midterms, as all floors are open at all hours each day during that week. 
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In past semesters, students could leave the first floor of Middleton Library to study in a quieter environment on the second, third and fourth floors until midnight. Now at 10 p.m., students must move to the first floor. 
“We are closing the circulation desk earlier because people weren’t checking out books after that time,” said Director of Library Communications and Publications Sigrid Kelsey.
The first floor has added new furniture and more space to study. The library has accommodated for more people coming down at 10 p.m. and needing to study until later in the night.
“I don’t think there is really a downside or an upside,” Kelsey said. “They still have space on the first floor to study. We have a new study space to hopefully carve out some more room that they’re missing from the upper floors.” 
Kelsey said the staff was unnecessarily having to work because there are less people upstairs after 10 p.m. The hours changed so those students could be safe downstairs with staff to monitor them.
“For staff, it’s really just not a good use of staff time to have them in the library when their services aren’t needed,” Kelsey said.
English sophomore Hayden Guidry said his study habits had to change because of the new closing times. He would usually be able to study all night because most people left around midnight.
“I would stay on the third or fourth floor until midnight and then come down to the first floor. Everyone at that point would be leaving, so it would be quiet on the first floor,” Guidry said. “Now since they close it at 10, the first floor is way too loud to get anything done.” 
Guidry said he thinks the library hours changing was probably for safety, but it does not change the fact he cannot study there past 10 p.m. because of how loud it is on the first floor.
“It is just a lot harder to study, so I just go home,” Guidry said. “It causes a break in my studying, so I get less done and I’m less productive.” 
Psychology sophomore Ethan Olsen said he has felt a rift in his studying schedule and does not come to the library to study during the night as often. Olsen now studies in the library during the day, he said.
“We’re here for academics and this is an academic space,” Guidry said. “There’s not enough room for everyone at 10 o’clock on the first floor. It just doesn’t work.”