Student Association President Takeena Strachan recently announced that she was in the process of finding out whether or not it is possible for Penfield Library to extend its hours. 

Last semester, after hearing students’ wishes for longer library hours, Strachan put in the research to see how Oswego State’s library hours compared to other SUNY schools. She found that Oswego State had some of the most limited hours of all SUNY schools.

“After doing the research and seeing all these schools that had the same state-wide operating level that we did, we were the one with one of the most restrictive library hours,” said Strachan.

Last semester, Penfield Library extended its hours from midnight to 2 a.m. during the week prior to, and the week of finals. According to the Penfield Library staff and Strachan, the changes came due to student request. 

“We had met at the end of the previous semester, and it was SA’s efforts and interests that encouraged and inspired us to extend hours at finals to the 2 a.m. time, so we are going to do that again,” said Penfield Library Director Sarah Weisman. “Traditionally, we had been open until midnight, and now we are going to be open until 2 a.m.”

Students had been asking for extended hours during finals week, since they wanted more quiet spaces to study besides the 24-hour room. Due partially to the set-up of the 24-hour room, which encourages group work and collaboration, students complained about the noise being too distracting. In response, Strachan and the library staff worked together to coordinate the best possible option for students to study.

While many students are interested in having longer library hours, some others, especially student library employees, may have differing opinions. According to the Associate Library Director Lynne Rhys, there are currently around 31 students employed at Penfield Library. Longer hours could mean additional jobs on campus or longer hours for current employees. That has both advantages and drawbacks, which Strachan and the Penfield Library staff are considering.

“At this point, the Student Association is in the process of determining what the needs are, whether it needs to be open the extra hour. If so, then we will do whatever we can to work with them, but again, we’re going to have staffing issues and logistical things we have to go through,” Rhys said. “Students generally want a wide variety of different types of study spaces and access to various materials and so the more we can offer, the better.”

Extending the library’s hours is only considered a temporary solution. The library’s 24-hour room will eventually be renovated, and will switch places with Lake Effect Cafe in the distant future. The ultimate plan is for Oswego State to build a tunnel connecting Lanigan Hall and Penfield Library, which would result in Lake Effect and the 24-hour room trading places.

The possibility of extending library hours, according to Strachan, would be a temporary change, to hopefully be implemented in the spring. Strachan and Corey Cesare, the Director of Student Life, Health and Safety will work in tandem with the library staff to create a solution to benefit Oswego State students.

“We’re very interested in working with SA, working with the students, we really want to meet student needs,” Weisman said.