Thank you to all those who replied to my message of 26/6/08 asking whether
any academic library had reverted to shorter opening hours after extending them.
I received eight responses (six from HE and two from FE institutions)which I
summarise as follows naming them A-H:
A opens 24/7 for 31 weeks (with 24 weeks 2006-07 and 26 weeks 2005-06). For
the remaining weeks they offer staffed opening to 8pm (10pm last year and
11pm the year before) and the building then remains open with security staff
to 2am. Evening opening is staffed by two (subsequently reduced to one)
librarians and three library assistants with the security staff.
B is open to 2.45 am on two sites, Mon to Thurs term time for computing use,
this was then changed to midnight and then again to 7.45pm.
C was open 24/7 until last year when they changed to Mon - Fri 7am-11pm, Sat
9am -11pm, Sun 9am -9pm. Following protests from students they extended
the hours to 1am Mon - Friday and from the beginning of March - 6 June 24
hour opening was reintroduced to cover assessment period. They now close at
11pm for the summer and will repeat the same pattern next year.
D trialled Saturday opening but gave it up due to low use.
E opens to 19:00 on weekdays during the three peak months -- November,
February, May. During the rest of the year they close at 17:15 on weekdays
in term and 17:00 out of term. They fear further cutbacks are coming which
will reduce these hours further.
F did not give details of their hours.
G extended morning opening from 9am to 8.45am and evening opening until 9pm
a couple of years ago. They offered Saturday morning opening for a while
but abandoned this due to low usage. They have now reverted to the original
evening closing time of 7.30pm and maintained the earlier opening at 8.30am
in the morning.
H cut their evening hours from 7.30 to 7.00pm and then to 6.30pm but are
considering going back to 7.30pm due to demand but only on the two busiest
nights.
Thank you.
|