UF students will get a change of scenery for their all-nighters this upcoming academic year.
According to the George A. Smathers Libraries website, Marston Science Library and Library West will be switching hours in the Fall, with Marston taking on the 24/5 hours Library West once had.
Due to a contract agreement between Starbucks and the libraries, the coffee shop will be open during library hours, said Patrick Reakes, associate dean for scholarly resources and services at George A. Smathers libraries.
Sara Wedemeyer, a 20-year-old replacement senator representing the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said she sees an issue in the lack of student representation in the decision to switch the library hours.
She said although senators were informed of the potential switch and asked for their opinions, she felt that library officials had already made up their minds.
“I think the smaller issues here are actually the big deal,” she said. “Why the urgency? Why over Summer?”
Nicholas Carré, UF Student Body treasurer, said he became involved in the discussion when he first reached out to the libraries at the beginning of his term in Spring. They responded with the idea of a switch.
“I was thrown off, because I wasn’t necessarily reaching out to them to talk to them about any switches but the budget,” Carré said. “No one really knew about it.”
Carré said the issue is time-sensitive, and the switch can’t be made once the Fall semester starts because it would cause confusion among students and staff.
Although Student Government is not making the decision, Carré said he wants to make sure they are reaching out to students and getting their input.
He said results were almost split on a survey he sent to senators, which yielded about 20 responses.
Carré said SG funds the overnight hours, but the libraries could choose to no longer provide the services, so he said he respects their decision-making.
He said there are benefits to the switch, and Marston will have about 2,200 seats following renovations, while Library West has about 1,400.
Newell Hall will also be opening in the 2016-2017 academic year near Marston, providing more study space and a safer area for night activity, he said.
Reakes said a log-on survey ran on library computers asking if students would prefer Marston or Library West.
He said about 5,000 students participated, and the results were not drastically in favor of one library over the other.
He said there will be more advertisement closer to Fall to make sure all students are informed of the switch.
“If we get to the end of this school year, and we get to next Summer, and the feedback is, ‘Oh, we would still much rather have West,’ I’ll just switch everything back over,” Reakes said.
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 7/21/15]
Valentina Caro, a first-year UF psychology student takes reads a book on the second floor of Library West on July 20, 2015.
