Pilot project seeks to accommodate students needing extended access
Pilot project seeks to accommodate students needing extended access
Photo: Sam Bullis/The Dialog
Midterms and exams: these two words summon up stressful scenarios for students.
Recognizing that the hours of availability for the college’s services can contribute to this concern, this semester George Brown College and the Student Association (SA) have worked out a way to help students.
“George Brown is a commuter school,” said Gagan Deep, the SA’s director of public relations. “So, the idea of travelling back and forth, sometimes as far away as Orangeville, was just not convenient. Our members expressed their concerns that it was often difficult for them to find suitable places and times to study during exams. ”
This pilot project involves altering the hours of the Library Learning Commons (LLC) at St. James—the college’s busiest campus.
John L. Hardy, director of educational resources at the LLC, describes this as the “right formula” for giving students access to a 24-hour study space at the St. James campus during a very stressful time in the semester.
Hardy also acknowledges the need for students to study through the night on campus without having to face a long commute, home and back, the night before an exam or when trying to meet a project deadline.
Allowing students to study through the night does not mean flinging open the doors to all residents, at all hours. Instead, access to this space will be tightly controlled, students studying after hours must have their valid student ID, with only a select number of services available at two specific times during the academic year.
This 24 hour access policy will be implemented at the St. James LLC from Oct. 6 to Oct. 11, but because this is Thanksgiving weekend, the policy will be affected.
The LLC will close at 6 p.m. on Oct. 12, and closed all day on Oct. 13 and 14.
Beginning on Oct. 15, the LLC will once again return to 24 hour access, giving students a window of time for extra studying ending on Oct 17. This 24 hour access policy will be repeated from Dec. 1 until Dec. 12, 2014.
Students who use the library during these after-access hours will be able to use the Macs and PCs in the two labs in the lower level.
It is also referred to as a 24-hour study space because the group project rooms in this area will be left unlocked for students’ use.
Other spaces in the college will be available as a way to allow students to access areas they may need if they remain at the college during this time, such as the cafeteria seating, vending machines and washrooms.
Despite the fact that it has taken a lot of hard work to make this project happen, Deep is optimistic that these efforts will pay off, saying, “if it goes well, this (24 hour access) will become a part of the library services.”
