August 23, 2019
The Libraries seem to be ever-evolving as the needs of students and the university community change. New this fall, Alden Library will be opening at 10 AM on Sundays on non-holiday weekends. Prior to this semester, Alden has opened at noon on Sundays and closed at 10 PM on Fridays and Saturdays during the academic year.
Ryan Spellman, a Library Support Specialist, explained how fluctuations in the building’s hours originate: “Library student workers, library staff, personal observations, and of course our patrons are all great places to gather suggestions from,” he said.
Aside from the anecdotal observations, there is a science to predicting building traffic and attempting to accommodate it.
“I also look at data from our people counting system, which logs entrances and exits from the building, and breaks them up by floor. This data both helps to generate new ideas based on peak usage as well as confirm observations,” Spellman went on.
According to people counter, the lowest recorded usage of the building consistently occurs in the evening on Friday and Saturday nights. Closing the building an hour earlier on those nights frees up two hours of time to keep the building open without increasing operational costs.
Holly McCoy, a senior art student and public services student Team Leader at Alden, mentioned that a crowd sometimes gathers outside of the building on Sunday mornings when she helps open the building. “Typically there is at least a small group of people waiting at the door, and as the semester progresses and classes start to pick up it tends to get larger,” McCoy noted.
Spellman emphasized the accuracy of the building’s staff and patrons’ recommendations: “The suggestion was solid, and once we actually looked at the numbers it was easy to see that the early Sunday hours are in much more of a need than Friday and Saturday nights.”
You can check out the library’s full list of hours, chat with staff, and more on the Libraries’ new and improved website .