College and Research Libraries RICHARD J. BEELER Late-Study Areas: A Means Of Extending Library Hours In a survey of the late-evening service provided by 169 academic li- braries~ it was found that late-night study areas were being used in thirty libraries as a means of extending hours of opening. Most of these areas were open for one to three hours after the library's nor- mal closing hour~ with only nine remaining open all night. Room counts for the twenty-four-hour study area at the University of Den- ver show use of the area to be light after 2:00 a.m. STUDENT DISSATISFACTION WITH LIBRARY HOURS seems to be one of the few char- acteristics of that group remaining con- stant from one generation to the next. One of the more economical courses of action available to librarians facing this continuing student pressure for longer hours is the late-evening study area, a section of the library kept open on a long hour or twenty-four hour basis while the remainder of the library fol- lows its regular schedule. In order to determine the popularity of the late-study concept, a question- naire was circulated to a random sam- pling of 196 academic libraries serving both public and private four-year in- stitutions inquiring into the nature of the late-evening service provided. 1 One . hundred sixty-nine question- naires were returned. The average li- brary in the sample group served a stu- dent population of 10,686 with a col- lection of . 531,651 volumes. There were 22.2 professionals and 37.3 clericals on the staff and 56 percent of its total 1971 budget of $986,17 4 was expended on salaries and wages. The circulation of Mr. Beeler is a reference librarian at the University of Denver, Colorado. 200 I this average library was 214,534 volumes per year. The largest library among those responding held a collection of 4,200,635 volumes and the smallest, 21,569 volumes. HoURs OF OPENING The average response to a question concerning total weekly hours of opera- tion was computed at 90.3 hours, with 114 hours and 56 hours being the maxi- mum and minimum figures. Eighty-sev- en, or 52 percent, of the replies indi- cated that minor extensions in hours were routinely made to accommodate in- creased use of the library during exam- ination periods. Closing times, to the nearest half hour, were as follows: Closing Time No. of Libraries 8:00p.m. 1 9:00p.m. 3 9:30p.m. 1 !O:OOp.m. 35 10:30 p.m. 14 11:00 p.m. 55 11:30 p.m. 3 12:00 midnight 53 l:OOa.m. 3 2:00a.m. 1 Total 169 These findings are comparable to those of Cain's 1969 survey of thirty- six state and private universities which reported an average of 94.3 weekly hours of operation with 11:00 p.m. being the most common closing time.2 In a major portion of the libraries surveyed, professional librarians were on duty in public service areas until 10:00 p.m. In one instance, however, professional coverage was provided un- til1:00 a.m. Latest Hour of Professional Coverage 5:00p.m. 8:30p.m. 9:00p.m. 9:30p.m. !O:OOp.m. !0:30p.m. 11:00p.m. 12:00 midnight !2:30a.m. 1:00a.m. not reporting Total No. of Libraries 20 . 1 11 7 87 8 17 6 1 1 10 169 LATE STUDY AREAS Thirty libraries, or 18 percent of the return, reported having some form of late-study facility. Eleven of these thirty late-study areas were operated for one to two hours af- ter the library's closing hour; eight were open for three to four hours following closing; and nine were operated on an around the clock basis, remaining open from the time of the library's closing until its opening on the following day. Although not uniformly reported, in seven cases the late-study rooms were operated on a Sunday through Thursday schedule, and in two cases the studies were open only on weekends. As can be seen from Table 1, super- vision or monitoring of the late-study rooms was reported as being generally light. Curiously, when staffing was con- Extending Library Hours I 201 sidered in conjunction with hours of operation it was found that monitoring was lightest in the eight twenty-four- hour study areas, with five of these areas being unattended. Each of these five li- braries reported having experienced no problem with vandals or vagrants abus- ing the twenty-four-hour unattended areas. A total of nine, or 30 percent, of the late-study areas reported were un- staffed. In twenty of the late studies de- scribed, patrons had no access to the li- brary's collection while using the study area after the normal closing hour, with the possible exception of small paper- back reference .and recreational collec- tions. In ten cases, however, access was allowed to major areas of the library, such as the reserve collection, or all the materials housed on a particular floor. In each case of this nature, library staff were required to supervise the study area while in operation. Professional reaction to the question of longer hours is widely divergent. Fourteen librarians indicated that ex- periments with extended hours (one case involving a late study) had yielded unimpressive results and had been dis- continued. Several others voiced strong doubts as to the validity of student de- mands for longer hours. As one librari- an remarked, "I will personally open the library for any student who can show me a schedule allowing no time for study during library hours." In contrast, comments from libraries having late-study areas were enthusiastic and usually couched in terms of how successful the area had been. Although two librarians indicated that their study areas were heavily used only during exam periods, most reported that the areas were justified and had "not been the trouble we anticipated." A library which two years ago began to operate a late-study area open until 3:00 a.m. Sun- day through Thursday indicated that this action had "stopped all requests for Institution American University California State University College of Wooster Creighton University Dartmouth College Earlham College Elmhurst College Johns Hopkins University Joint University Library McKendree College Michigan State University Millersville State College Mississippi State University North Dakota State University Northern Illinois University Occidental College Oregon State University Princeton University Purdue University · Stanford University Syracuse University Tufts University University of Denver University of Georgia University of Maryland, College Park University of Mississippi University of New Hampshire University of North Dakota University of South Florida University of Southern California o Friday and Saturday hours only t Periodic checks by campus security officials * Access to small recreational or reference collections TABLE 1 LATE-STUDY AREAs none 2 student assistants 1 student assistant Supervision 1 campus security officer none none nonet 1 campus security officer 1 student assistant, 1 campus security officer none 3 student assistants 1 adult clerk, 1 student ~ssistant 2 members of fraternity council 1 graduate student 2 student assistants 1 nonprofessional staff member 1 student assistant none 2 student assistants none 4 clerks, 1 professional 1 graduate student 1 student assistant 1 student assistant 1 clerical assistant, 1 security guard 2 student assistants none none 3 student assistants 1 clerk 2 student assistants g -Access to (') Hours Collection ~ S' 24 hours/day no (JQ ~ 10:00 p.m.-12:00 midnight yes G-5:00 p.m.-12:00 midnight0 yes 12:00 midnight-1:00 a.m. no ~ ~ 24 hours/day no "-' ~ 11:15 p.m.-3:00a.m. no £i 24 hours/day no:t: (") 24 hours/ day yes ~ 11:00 p.m.-2:00a.m. no ~ 10:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m. no & ~ 11:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m. yes ~ 10:00 p.m.-12:00 midnight ~ yes ~- 11:00 p.m.-3:00 a.m. no "-' 10:30 p.m.-12:00 midnight no 10:00 p.m.-2:00 a.m. yes ~ 12:00 midnight-2:00a.m. no ~ 11:00 p.m.-1: 00 a.m. no ....... 12:00 midnight-3:00 a.m. no