Libraries closed for Easter Weekend

Unshelved

As usual, the Library will be closed for the Easter weekend. All reading rooms will be closed on Good Friday 06 April 2012 to Easter Monday 09 April 2012 inclusive, reopening at 09:00 on Tuesday.

The 24-Hour Study Area and the 1937 Reading Room *will* remain open.

kingofthenerds

i had a similar thread in the maynooth forum but looks like im just complaining. a 4 day closure so close to exams and when assignments are due is not acceptable.

BlueCam

kingofthenerds wrote: »

i had a similar thread in the maynooth forum but looks like im just complaining. a 4 day closure so close to exams and when assignments are due is not acceptable.

Completely agree, it's a disgrace. The 24-hour is overflowing, exams are three weeks away and yet the library is closed for 4 days straight? Hell, they even managed to open the sports centre. Are librarians unionised, out of interest?

Also, I don't know if anyone else has noticed this but all of the computers at the issue desk in the Berkeley have been left turned on for the past 4 days. I acknowledge that perhaps it is necessary to leave the computers themselves on for system maintenance reasons (although I would imagine this is done on some kind of mainframe computer), but could you not at least turn off the screens? Complete disregard for saving electricity.

The Black Oil

Some of the library PCs (catalogue only ones) are set to shut down at 9:55pm during the week, don't know about weekends and maybe they're not set up properly for the holidays.

BlueCam

Black Oil wrote: »

Some of the library PCs (catalogue only ones) are set to shut down at 9:55pm during the week, don't know about weekends and maybe they're not set up properly for the holidays.

These aren't the catalogue ones, these are the ones the librarians use when you take out a book. Wouldn't have taken too much effort just to hit the button on the screen last Thursday as they left.

The Black Oil

I'd imagine the same situation is replicated all over the country.

kingofthenerds

Black Oil wrote: »

I'd imagine the same situation is replicated all over the country.

it doesn't appear to be the case in dcu.

Mark200

BlueCam wrote: »

kingofthenerds wrote: »

i had a similar thread in the maynooth forum but looks like im just complaining. a 4 day closure so close to exams and when assignments are due is not acceptable.

Completely agree, it's a disgrace. The 24-hour is overflowing, exams are three weeks away and yet the library is closed for 4 days straight? Hell, they even managed to open the sports centre. Are librarians unionised, out of interest?

They'd also have to pay security as well as librarians

Jammyc

Why not open libraries as study spaces, while keeping counters shut? That way only security is needed.

Mark200

Oh yeah, and heating too

BlueCam

Mark200 wrote: »

Oh yeah, and heating too

But this is a moot point - every time the library is open they have to pay for security and heating. The point is that it is ridiculous to close the entire library for a period of four days, three weeks before exams. If keeping it open for those four days is such a burden then why can't they close it at some other time when there is less need, e.g. one or two Saturdays in Michaelmas Term or one or two days during the summer? It's absolutely non-sensical to do as they've done, especially since the college can apparently afford to keep the sports centre open - which costs a LOT more to run than a library.

languagenerd

BlueCam wrote: »

But this is a moot point - every time the library is open they have to pay for security and heating. The point is that it is ridiculous to close the entire library for a period of four days, three weeks before exams. If keeping it open for those four days is such a burden then why can't they close it at some other time when there is less need, e.g. one or two Saturdays in Michaelmas Term or one or two days during the summer? It's absolutely non-sensical to do as they've done, especially since the college can apparently afford to keep the sports centre open - which costs a LOT more to run than a library.

It's seriously annoying (I had an essay due Tues and no time to research), but, in fairness, it was the Easter weekend. The library doesn't open on Sundays anyway and the Monday was a bank holiday, so technically, they only closed for two days that it should have been open.

I'm angry at the department who set the essay for Tuesday, but not the library staff, they're entitled to their time off too.

BlueCam

languagenerd wrote: »

It's seriously annoying (I had an essay due Tues and no time to research), but, in fairness, it was the Easter weekend. The library doesn't open on Sundays anyway and the Monday was a bank holiday, so technically, they only closed for two days that it should have been open.

I'm angry at the department who set the essay for Tuesday, but not the library staff, they're entitled to their time off too.

The library has been open every Sunday this semester.

I also detest this argument that "staff need time off". No one is obliged to work - but whatever job you get into, you need to be realistic about the hours you'll be working. Do you think investment bankers in London refused to come in on Monday when world markets were still open because it was a bank holiday in the UK? No, of course not. What about people working in newsagents that were open on Monday? Similarly, if you're a librarian at a university library you might expect that coming up that university's exam period you might have to put in longer hours than usual. I also recall librarians complaining that many of them had been put on part time due to cutbacks - well here's your bloody chance to do some work. And if they needed time off that badly, well as someone pointed out all they needed was a security guard at the front door.

Lawliet

BlueCam wrote: »

I also recall librarians complaining that many of them had been put on part time due to cutbacks - well here's your bloody chance to do some work. And if they needed time off that badly, well as someone pointed out all they needed was a security guard at the front door.

You're acting like the library staff just didn't fancy coming in. If a decision is made to close the library I don't really see what the staff is suppose to do about it.

BlueCam

Lawliet wrote: »

You're acting like the library staff just didn't fancy coming in. If a decision is made to close the library I don't really see what the staff is suppose to do about it.

I'm not, that was in reply to someone who said "the staff need the time off". I'm fully aware it's the college that decides how much funding the library gets - but to be fair, it's the library that allocates it and in this case, I think it could have been allocated slightly better.

Abby19

BlueCam wrote: »

I also recall librarians complaining that many of them had been put on part time due to cutbacks - well here's your bloody chance to do some work. And if they needed time off that badly, well as someone pointed out all they needed was a security guard at the front door.

As you said, staff have been put on part-time. Also librarians (and security staff) who leave are not replaced. The librarians don't really have an option in this, their hours are dictated by the college, its policies and its finances. Also some administrative staff are not having their contracts renewed, and their work distributed among those who remain.

BTW I agree the hours suck, and a lot of courses have exams at Christmas, and they don't get the Sunday opening for 10 weeks prior to them that the college calendar stipulates.

The Black Oil

Apparently it's beyond some people to use the bins that are provided right next to the desks.

Jammyc

Whats the story with the library this Friday? Is it open at all/what time does it close at. I'm far too uncool to attend the ball.

Larianne

Pretty sure it closes at 5. Thanks for reminding me!