Cabell Library extends hours; expansion still needed

Mark Robinson
Assistant News Editor

At 3 a.m. on a Wednesday morning, Thao Nguyen is propped in front of a computer screen studying for her physical chemistry lab on the second floor of Cabell Library.

Bleary-eyed, she plans to call it quits at 4 a.m., maybe.

The senior chemistry major is one of thousands of students who are taking advantage of the library’s new extended hours.

When classes resumed after Spring Break, Cabell Library adopted a 24-hours-a-day, five-days-a-week schedule. Extended weekend hours include 10 p.m. closings on Fridays and Saturdays and 10 a.m. openings on Sunday morning.

More than 2,000 students came to the library during the longer hours in the first week, a VCU Libraries press release said. The longer hours on Friday and Saturday nights night drew over 1,000 students alone.

“In the daytime, it’s so crowded, and it’s hard to find a computer,” Nguyen said. “I like to work on the desktops because they have a big screen.”

Nguyen takes refuge in the library to escape her loud apartment when she needs to study. The library’s new operating schedule makes it easier for her to do so.

University librarian John Ulmschneider said more students are taking advantage of the new hours than he expected. Continued late night attendance will justify the cost to maintain the longer hours, he added.

“The guiding principle will be whether around-the-clock service is making an important difference to enough students to merit continuing it,” Ulmschneider said. “The bottom line is that the service must contribute to student academic success and student quality of life.”

Cabell Library has expanded its security staff and employees to handle the new operating schedule, Ulmschneider said.

The Cabell Library Starbucks will adopt the extended hours for the last three weeks of the semester, according to Michael Martin, resident district manager of Aramark at VCU.

VCU Dining Services is reviewing the library’s traffic during the extended hours to see if the Starbucks can generate enough business to adopt the new operating schedule, Martin said.

The added traffic of the new schedule will increase the wear and tear on the more-than-40-year-old building, Ulmschneider said; but VCU has a new housekeeping contract to try and offset the effects, he said.

Because most students will not shift their library schedule, Ulmschneider said, the extended hours do not address Cabell’s most pressing need: space.

“Around-the-clock service addresses the need for more flexible study hours, but not the need for space,” he said.

Cabell Library provides the least amount of library space per student of any public university in Virginia, Ulmschneider said.

At the Board of Visitors meeting this past fall, VCU proposed renovating Cabell Library as a part of the revised Master Site Plan. The university is currently looking for funding for the $47 million dollar project.

“(Cabell Library) is the university’s number one priority,” said Brian Ohlinger, assistant director of Facilities Management.

“When you look at where we were and what enrollment was when (Cabell) was built and you look at where we are now and what the enrollment is … we need that additional space,” he said.

VCU expects money will be left over in the state budget to do some preliminary planning, Ohlinger said. He estimates planning and design could total $1.6 million.

The General Assembly is currently in a special session to approve a state budget.