Maroon Opinions

Library Hours

Will any library be open for twenty four hours during reading period and / or finals week?

If not, I highly suggest the administration work on making that happen. How does the school expect students to prepare for all finals in a two day reading period when closed libraries will force us to waste time finding appropriate places to work? It's already frustrating during the quarter.

The Suggestions Office suspects the University administration would be unsympathetic to your pleas.

That said, here is a summary of Library hours for reading period and finals:

Regenstein A-Level: the A-Level will be open 24/7 beginning Sunday Dec 29 through Friday Dec 11. That includes Friday Dec 4 and Saturday Dec 5.

Rest of the Reg: will be open normal hours (i.e., until 1 a.m. Sunday - Thursday and 10 p.m. Friday-Saturday)

Crerar, Eckhart, SSA: all keeping their normal hours. (UPDATE: The Crerar folks tell me they will be open until 1am this Friday and Saturday.)

Harper: It's not a library anymore, but the Harper Commons will keep it's normal hours and be open 24 hours EXCEPT for Friday Dec 4 (closing at 6pm) and Saturday Dec 5 (closing at 10pm).

Law: Law will keep its normal hours, but it is highly likely the Law School will restrict building access will be restricted to Law students or those using the DLL collections during reading period and finals. If you are an undergrad living in BJ or South Campus, start making plans to go to Harper. (UPDATE: Lo, the restriction has come to pass -- starting Friday, December 4.)

Full hours information is available at: http://hours.lib.uchicago.edu/

Note that the Library completely controls the hours of Regenstein and Crerar only. In all other buildings, the appropriate department/school sets building hours. So if the department decides to close early or to restrict access to its own students (cf. Law), the Library has to abide by that decision. We can be more restrictive, but not more permissive.

Library Reductions

Please don't reduce the hours that the libraries are open--cut anything but the hours, please. Especially for D'Angelo--we law students need to be there as often as possible!

You probably don't have to subscribe to quite so many magazines in the reading room--maybe cut out a few of the super girly subscriptions. Also, please keep the computer lab on the 3rd floor of D'angelo open as long as you can.

Thank you for the comments. Like every other department on campus, the Library has been asked to reduce its budget, and we're currently exploring what to cut. We'd prefer to make cuts that are largely out-of-sight to our users, but nothing is completely off the table at present.

The "light reading" of the Fulton Room and elsewhere on campus is usually purchased with endowments that were donated specifically for that purpose. For example, the senior class gift of the class of 2000 was to establish a book fund for popular literature.

Keep the Library Open!

At an institution like the University of Chicago, it is disgraceful that the library should close at 5pm today, Dec. 12. (Sunday opening time and interim hours are also inadequate.) Please convey to the administration the sentiment, shared by all library users I know, that the library deserves more resources in order to serve the student body.

Duly noted -- although the Suggestions Office staff wonder which library you refer to, since the only campus libraries closing at 5:00 p.m. today are Eckhart, Harper, and SSA.

Regenstein, Crerar, and Law are all still open until 10:00 p.m., our normal closing hours for Friday.

Memorial Day Hours

I would really like if the a-level was open absolutely every night, on the weekends and holidays too, because that is crucial to my study planning flexibility, and I hate working at home, and there are no other places to work in the middle of the night because even Valois closes and it's a little scary up there at night anyway.

Dear Regenstein,
It is Memorial Day today, and I am a graduating senior whose final exams must all be done by the middle of next week, so I have a great deal of work right now. Federal holidays do nothing to lighten my load. It is incredibly inconvenient that the all-night study space was not open last night and will not be open tonight. I wish that the all-night study space was open more in general, specifically on Friday and Saturday nights, because I like to work there and appreciate having the flexibility to work when I want to and not be limited to the restrictions established by library hours. Weekend nights would be especially useful for all-night study, since it is easier to sleep in and take naps the next day on the weekends, and because it would be convenient to avoid drunken noisy roommates at home on weekend nights. Thanks.

We do keep the A-Level open during the Friday and Saturday before finals. However, our current staffing levels don't allow us to maintain this schedule during the entire academic year. It is a topic we periodically revist, though, so if you'd use the library after 10:00 p.m. on Friday or Saturday, please let us know.

Later Friday and Saturday Hours

I think the Regenstein should definitely be open later on Fridays and Saturdays during the academic year, til at least midnight. It is always difficult to find someplace to study on Friday and Saturday nights on campus, esp. when the A-level doesn't open til 1 AM, and there are literally no coffee shops or anything open in Hyde Park.

Regenstein is open until 1:00 AM on weekends of intensive study, such as just before finals. Keeping the library open until 1:00 AM on all Fridays and Saturdays would add significantly to our staffing costs, and we aren't sure if there would be enough use to justify spending this additional money.

Although perhaps not an ideal study environment, the Reynolds Club is open until 2:00 AM on Fridays and Saturdays and is just across the street from the Reg.

Moving Upstairs?

During reading period and finals week, it would be great if the entire Regenstein were open. The A-level is full of loud freshmen in core classes hogging all the tables. A girl can't think with all the noise! The upper levels are nice and quiet and I'm pretty sure we can take care of ourselves up there without creating problems. Just a suggestion.

It's true the A-Level can get a little rowdy, especially at this point in the quarter. A few years ago we experimented with keeping the first floor open all night during finals week; this users of this space did indeed take care of themselves, but it also entailed staffing and security costs.

May I offer Crerar as a suitable alternative? That library's first floor is also open 24 hours, and the Office has heard its legendary atmosphere of quiet extends to all hours of the night.

[UPDATE: The Crerar staff inform the Office that not only the first floor but the entire library is open all night. Even more room to study!]

Earlier Hours at the Reg are Great

I just wanted to thank you (whomever is responsible) for opening Regenstein at 10 AM on Sundays. This is an immensely helpful huge improvement. Thanks.

Thank you! Credit goes to the Reg's Access Services Dept., who agreed to come in a few hours earlier and make other changes so the library could be open on Sunday mornings.

24-hour Access to Crerar

This question was asked, but its second half was never answered. I understand why the faculty and grad students have 24-hour access to the libraries; but why can't undergrads have those same privileges? In particular, why can't undergrads have 24-hour access to all the floors of Crerar throughout the academic year?

As you probably read in an earlier response, 24-hour access to Crerar was limited to faculty and graduate students who needed such access for research purposes, and who had enjoyed such all-night access in their old departmental libraries.

Undergraduates -- at least as a body -- were not presumed to need 24/7 access to the Crerar collections. While undergrads might have a legitimate need to study into the wee hours, this was not the same as a physician who, say, urgently needed to consult a medical journal at 2am to help treat a current patient. Consequently, the Library limited after-hours Crerar access to those College students who could demonstrate a need to use these collections at such times.

Meanwhile, the University (including the Library) looked broadly across campus for a suitable location for 24-hour space. Several alternatives were considered and tested, including Hutch, Crerar, and Harper, before the Reg's A-Level emerged as the clear winner.

After lack of bookstacks space forced the Library to put shelving in the A-Level and move the 24-hour study space to the first floor of Crerar, we've been discussing whether it makes sense to open up the second and third floors of the building as well. I'm happy to report that either at the start of Fall Quarter or soon after, the 24-hour study space will expand to the first, second, and third floors of Crerar. Thus on Sunday - Thursday nights, undergrads will be able to "go upstairs" if they wish.

The Dissertation Office

Why isn't there a direct link to the Dissertation Office on the library's page? I needed contact information and hours, but couldn't find them. If I hadn't asked one of the reference librarians, I would not have found the information at all.

On the library's home page, click on "Services and Facilities," then look in the left-hand column for the Dissertation Office. An alternative path is to click "Hours" (underneath "Library Access and Policies"), then scroll down to the Dissertation Office row.

More generally, your comment argues that we should promote the Dissertation Office link up to the home page, although this would inevitably displace something else.  We'll keep this in mind when we plan the next page redesign.

Earlier Hours: Yes

I'm all for the Reg opening earlier on the Saturday or Sunday before finals week. Thank you!

You're welcome -- did anyone else find the earlier hours useful? Let us know.