Library set to open on Sundays
By Amy Bracken | Dec 5 2010
The library is to open on Sundays from 9am to 9pm throughout the second semester, as it is receiving supplementary funds, believed to be coming from the President’s Fund.This is aimed not solely at postgraduate students, but also in light of the increase in continuous assessment for undergraduate students.“We wrote up a proposal, and met the Registrar and the library senior management team around August and put it to them,” said SU Education Vice-President James Williamson. “We basically outlined that because UCD aim to have an even spread of continuous assessment across the whole semester, it’s very unfair to have the library open longer towards exam time and encourage cramming. A lot of students might have continuous assessment that’s worth more than their final exam.”The University Observer understands that supplementary funds, believed to be from the President’s Fund, will fund the additional opening hours. Williamson said: “We originally thought that it would come from the library budget, which means that it wouldn’t be cut from somewhere, but that money wouldn’t be available if something else came up. But that’s not the case; it’s actually not coming from the library budget. It’s coming from the President’s Fund, at the request of the Registrar.”
University librarian Dr John Howard told The University Observer: “Offering the extended Sunday hours has been made possible by the allocation of additional funds from UCD Administration to cover the cost of additional staffing needed to support the service.“We are extremely pleased to be able to offer this service enhancement and appreciate the support of the UCD President and Registrar, as well as the UCD Students’ Union.”SU President Paul Lynam said: “When this team took office in July, we outlined our 14 key priorities and achieving a seven-day library was arguably the most important but potentially most difficult one to achieve.“Securing the library extension is a credit to the hard work of this sabbatical team, but in particular our Education [Vice-President], James Williamson.“The SU would like to thank the UCD Library team and the Registrar’s office for their cooperation."Williamson said: “I am absolutely delighted. It is a result of a series of in-depth discussions with the Registrar and the library senior management team.”This is an extension of opening hours and that it will not detract from weekday hours: “It was previously thought that the funds for extra opening hours would come at the expense of other library services such as cutting back on opening hours on weekdays or Saturdays, but following negotiations this has been avoided,” said Williamson.