Students Demand Longer Library Hours

When Jacqueline L. Roberts ’05 writes history of science papers late at night, she often works in the Eliot House laundry room.

“I study in the laundry room because it’s open all the time, and there’s no TV to distract me,” she says.

As a freshman, she habitually studied in a tower in Weld Hall.

“But the tower in Weld is one of the most creepy places around campus to pull an all-nighter,” Roberts adds.

And when Joseph M. Goodstein ’06 works late at night, he studies in the Adams House dining hall.

“The dining hall is always open, even in the middle of the night, but the lighting’s not too good,” he says. “It’s not so fun to study there.”

Students like Roberts and Goodstein have found creative alternatives to conventional study spaces found in Harvard’s libraries, which close when many students are still hard at work.

Cabot Science Library began its 24-hour operation yesterday through exam period. But there is still a long-standing, growing movement for Harvard College Libraries (HCL) to institute a year-round 24-hour library.

Students have targeted Lamont Library, Harvard’s primary undergraduate library, for the all-night study space.

This year, extending library hours was a key issue in the Undergraduate Council presidential campaign.

University authorities have not ruled out keeping Lamont open later, but so far they have not changed policy. Under current regulations, the library closes at 12:45 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday night, at 11:45 p.m. on Thursday night and at 9:45 p.m. on Friday and Saturday night. It opens at 8 a.m. daily. During reading and exam period, Lamont stays open until 12:45 a.m. each night.

But students, led by Council President-Elect Matthew J. Glazer ’06, are not giving up.

“Harvard should have...a library open 24 hours,” Glazer says. “And Lamont’s location and resources make it an ideal location for late-night study space.”

Edward M. Lamont ’48, a grandson and biographer of Thomas W. Lamont—the Class of 1892 alum who donated the $1.5 million of shares of J.P. Morgan stock that funded the library’s construction—hopes the library will continue to serve its original purpose as a study space for undergraduates.

“If there is demonstrated a strong student need for a late-night library,” he says, “keeping it open later should be seriously considered.”

ASKING FOR AN EXTENSION

Past student-led efforts to extend Lamont’s hours have not succeeded.

In 2001, the council passed a resolution that called for HCL to provide a suitable late-night studying environment for undergraduates.

“But nothing happened after that,” Council President Matthew W. Mahan ’05 says. “This has been an issue that comes up pretty much every year.”

“The problem has always been on the implementation side,” he adds. “At the end of the day, this is going to come down to a budget issue.”

Several students studying in Lamont late at night before winter break generally supported extending Lamont’s hours.

“Lamont should be open for 24 hours because it’s the only place where I don’t fall asleep when I’m studying,” says Anthony L. Johnson ’08.

But Ada M. McMahon ’06 has some reservations about a 24-hour library.

“It would be great for students,” she affirms, “but Harvard students tend to get carried away about what is best for them without considering the consequences for the employees.”

Extending Lamont’s hours would require increased staffing and security, in addition to higher maintenance bills, according to Beth Brainard, director of communications for HCL.

“But the matter is under consideration,” she adds. “It would not be an impossible thing to do.”

Brainard cites as evidence of HCL’s concern for student welfare the renovations of the third and fifth floors of Lamont, as well as the recently completed $92-million renovation of Widener Library.

Library officials declined to comment on the cost of extending Lamont’s hours. But HCL has also been facing budget problems since early 2002, when Larsen Librarian of Harvard College Nancy M. Cline asked the organization’s component libraries to reduce their budgets by 5 percent during the 2002-2003 fiscal year, according to HCL’s annual report.

And Associate Librarian of Harvard College Lynda Leahy says that even keeping Lamont’s ground floor open all night would be difficult.

“Lamont is not designed for extended-hours use of the [third] floor,” she says. “The building really can’t be segmented off.”

But Glazer, who pledged during his campaign to fight for extended library hours, says he will still push for Lamont to stay open later.

The council is currently conducting a survey that Glazer hopes will shed light on students’ study habits, their sleep routines and their demand for late-night study space. The council plans to draft a position paper based on the results by next month.

“Harvard should not be making students stress about where to study,” Glazer says. “They already have enough to stress about.”

BEYOND HARVARD YARD

Several of the nation’s top universities currently provide study spaces for students working late at night.

Rockefeller Library—Brown University’s primary liberal arts library, which students affectionately call “the Rock”—has extended its hours over the past decade and now closes at 2 a.m., Sunday through Thursday nights.

During these late hours, one security guard and two student workers staff the library, and most library employees leave by midnight, according to Florence Doksansky, Brown’s interim university library director,

And additional maintenance fees resulting from these extended hours are “relatively small” compared with total annual maintenance costs, Doksansky says.

Brown is currently planning to open a 24-hour student center in its Sciences Library in the summer of 2006, Doksansky adds.

Cornell University already has a 24-hour undergraduate library, Sunday through Thursday.

The costs of keeping Uris Library open later have been “relatively inexpensive,” according to Anne R. Kenney, an associate university librarian at Cornell.

“It was one of the best things we ever did in terms of meeting undergraduate needs,” she says. “The students are overwhelmingly grateful.”

Stanford University also provides study space for undergraduates who choose to study late at night. The first floor of Meyer Library, Stanford’s undergraduate library, stays open all night, seven days a week.

Stanford’s library website lists locations available for students who need work space or computer access late at night.

Safety officials patrol the library, but no library employees monitor the space during extended hours, says David Futey, Stanford’s associate director of academic computing.

Brainard, in response to comparisons with Brown, Cornell and Stanford’s library systems, says HCL is still weighing its options.

“Each library has its own set of circumstances,” she says. “We have to take our libraries and our users into account and figure out the best possible solution.”

—Staff writer Daniel J.T. Schuker can be reached at dschuker@fas.harvard.edu.