Libraries to extend hours during Finals Week

UTRGV libraries will provide students with an extra boost during the stress of final exams by extending hours Dec. 8 through 15 for Finals Week.

The Edinburg and Brownsville campus libraries will be open 24 hours a day for five days during December for Finals Week and will offer free coffee to students from midnight to 7 a.m.

Extended hours will begin from 7:30 a.m. to midnight on Dec. 8 for students hoping to get some work done before the weekend. On Dec. 10, the libraries will be open during their regular hours of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Starting Dec. 11, the library will open at 1 p.m. and remain open 24 hours a day until 10 p.m. Dec. 15. On Dec. 16, the libraries will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

UTRGV University Librarian Paul Sharpe said this is something the library can do to lend students a helping hand during the highs and lows of Finals Week.

“It gives us the opportunity to provide students with a place to study,” Sharpe said. “They’re cramming for finals, working in small groups or large groups, knowing that time is not on your side during finals; so, anything we can do to provide people with a place to meet, study, read, work on the computer, we just feel like that’s what we can do to promote student success on campus.”

After speaking with members of the UTRGV Student Government Association this year and last, Sharpe was open to providing 24-hour access for students after experimenting with extended hours during Finals Week last year, which resulted in a good turnout.

“Last fall, in 2015 and the spring of 2016, we extended our hours but we didn’t do anything for 24 hours,” Sharpe said. “To back things up, we stayed open later last year and there were numbers to show that the library was being used.”

Spanish senior Denisse Rodriguez, who visits the library nearly every day, said it’s good it will provide the facilities to students and is looking forward to the free coffee.

“I think it’s really good because there are students that really don’t have the facilities to get a computer anywhere or having the quietness to take a test or prepare for a test,” Rodriguez said. “So, it’s good they provide that facility and, plus, the coffee. Yeah, who doesn’t want a coffee?”

Biology sophomore Clarissa Mendiola arrives to the library at 8 a.m. and stays late some days to get work done. She said the library being open 24 hours a day during Finals Week could help her get that A she’s chasing.

“It’s a great opportunity. These are important tests. So, to have the chance to have somewhere we can study and know there are resources and materials around us, that enables us to really be more productive,” Mendiola said. “I need an A, so I’m going to do whatever I can to try and get that A. Now that I know that the library will be open [24 hours] during Finals Week, I’ll make plans to come and take advantage of it.”

Sharpe said remaining open 24 hours a day and providing free coffee is part of the libraries’ efforts to help students out and is looking forward to doing more in the future if there is a good turnout of students during their extended hours.

“This is part of our efforts to help students in any way we can. We’re very excited to get more feedback from students and find out how we can make the library one of the most important places on campus and a place where students want to do their work,” Sharpe said. “If we see enough usage of the library during finals this fall and in the spring from students overnight, then we may expand those ideas, providing students with broader events.”

For a schedule of hours during Finals Week and more library information, visit utrgv.edu/library.