By Paige Quiggins
At a press conference earlier this month, Mayor Jerry Abramson announced University of Louisville libraries are open to the general public. “We were approached by the U of L libraries with the suggestion that we should do a joint press conference reminding the public that the libraries were available,” said Kerri Richardson, Communications Coordinator for the Mayor’s Office. To many Kentuckiana residents, including the U of L community, this was firsthand knowledge and it is not a newly adopted policy.
University Libraries Dean Hannelore Rader said it had been that way long before she came here over 12 years ago. “We just hadn’t publicized it yet,” she added. Rader, along with Diane Nichols, Associate Dean and Director of Ekstrom, said the ‘Library Associates’ encouraged the decision to come forward to the Mayor. The Library Associates is a group of individuals who help provide materials and raise funds for local and U of L libraries.
Residents of Louisville and Indiana counties Clark, Floyd and Harrison ages 18 and up, are permitted to obtain a “community borrower’s” card in order to check out books. Anyone under 14 can utilize the facility but must be accompanied by an adult. Borrowers can check out up to 10 books for 14 days, undergraduates can check out up to 99 books for 28 days. Graduate students, faculty and staff can check out the same amount for up to 120 days. The Fine Arts library only allows graduate students to check out books for up to 30 days and allows faculty to check out books for up to 120 days.
Privileges not included in the community borrowers program are media resources, such as DVD’s or laptop computers, reserve materials, Inter-library loans and access to the 24-hour study area. Dean Rader also said there are thousands of people who use the libraries on Sunday and she hopes the public library will expand its hours. “The material is different than what you would find in a public library,” she explained. Material in the university libraries may be of specific study interest, while the materials found in public libraries tends to cater to personal interest.
Some, like freshman accounting major Darius Walker, feel helping the community is good, so long as the students get first priority. Junior English and humanities major Stephen Fitzgerald shared that philosophy but calls the situation a “catch-22.” U of L is government-funded, but students pay tuition, he explained.
Some students have ran into problems with computer crowding or other “technological problems.” Junior mechanical engineering major Andy Eastes and senior political science major Chelsea Brown found alleged ‘homeless’ looking up pornography. “It’s not conducive to studying or the general well-being of the college public,” said Eastes. Students receive e-mail notifications stating it is their responsibility to pay fines or face consequences if they purchase or look at pornography on a library computer, he added. “It’s ridiculous that students can’t always have priority over that,” said Brown.
The new wing of the library near the Tulip Tree Cafe is open 24-hours to students. After normal hours, books and media are locked up and the general public does not have access. “In the past, we have had people come in before that were wanted by campus security,” said Fitzgerald. Rader stated there are always two-to-three security officers patrolling the library during the extended hours.
Senior psychology major Brendan Byrne said his solution to fixing possible crowding problems from community borrowers is “to get more laptops and/ or possibly regulate computer hours.” Byrne’s said that borrowers do not have access to laptops, and more could meet the peak time needs of students and the outer community. “It’s always crazy between 11 (a.m.) and 1 (p.m.),” said Byrne. “I had to wait to use a computer for someone to check MySpace, YouTube, play games or something.” This solution could ensure student and professor priority during finals week or other common peak times. Rader and Nichols said students are supposed to have priority, and guests need temporary log-ons to use a computer. Borrowers are permitted an hour on the computer, while students, faculty and staff are allowed up to 16 hours.
