With the availability of community lounges already evaporating due to the campus housing crunch, the university seems poised to make a decision that would deprive students of a quiet place to study, a vitally important resource.
Cutting the late-night study service – always popular among students cramming for exams, rushing through term papers or just looking for a quiet place to read – would leave students in the dorms with scant few areas to study and work after the sun goes down.
While Interim Dean of Libraries Desider Vikor told The Diamondback today “that no final decision has been made,” the e-mail sent to the students who staffed the late-night study program leaves little doubt the service will at least be cut back. The quick student response – such as the more than 600 member “Save McKeldin Library’s Late Night Study” group on Facebook – shows how highly students value the service.
The goal of bolstering and improving the resources available through the library system should be commended. Offering a wide array of top-notch journals helps professors in their research, and it surely aids the university in its pursuit of prestigious faculty. Likewise, the journal subscriptions give students an extra avenue to exploit in writing and researching papers.
But the addition of materials shouldn’t come at the cost of study time for students. Late-night study gives students the ability to leave the noise of the dorm room behind and hit the books in earnest. The service means there is always a quiet place to go on the campus to review notes and read textbooks, which is no small thing considering the occasional frayed nerves and conflicting study schedules among students in dorms.
Before ending the program for good, the university should explore all other possible avenues, including scaling back the number of journal subscriptions. As the next semester approaches, the university should take every step possible to avoid ending a service vital to the academic success of students.
