Rider students upset over the closure of library on Saturdays

By Olivia Nicoletti

Students will have to be creative when looking for a weekend study spot this semester as the university announced the Franklin F. Moore Library and Talbott Library will both be closed on Saturdays until further notice.

The announcement came during the Sept. 2 fall convocation. According to the Associate Vice President for University Marketing and Communications Kristine Brown, there were several reasons for the closure of the libraries on Saturdays.

“First, Saturdays are the least busy day of the weekend in the library. Our statistics show that the number of patrons has significantly decreased on Saturdays over time,” Brown said. “In the fall of 2020, the last semester we were fully operational in person, patronage was sometimes as low as less than 10 per Saturday. Second, the need to staff the library seven days a week limited the staff’s flexibility, which will now be improved with a six-day schedule.”

On Sunday the Moore Library will be open from 3 p.m. -10 p.m., from Monday to Thursday 8 a.m. – 11 p.m and Friday 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. The Talbott Library will be open on Sunday from 3 p.m. – 10 p.m, Monday through Thursday 8 a.m. – 10 p.m and Friday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Students do have alternative options for places to study such as the study lounge and the Rider Athletics Hall of Fame area in the Student Recreation Center (SRC) that were open last spring for overnight hours. There were established quiet hours in these areas for studying.

Rider is “reinstating its 24-hour Study Lounge in the SRC this semester, which has been very popular with students,” Brown said. “This was very well received by students, and therefore, the decision was made to bring the study lounge back this year.”

The 24-hour study lounge is opened for Sunday through Thursday with quiet hours between 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.

“We will continue to monitor the library hours and if we see the need to make changes, such as during exam times, we can certainly reverse course,” Brown said.

Some students on campus have shown concern for these changing hours, such as their dependency on the library to get their weekend’s worth of work done.

Giordan Carbini, a sophomore behavioral neuroscience major, has returned to the Rider dorms after being home for a year. He stressed that it was hard to readjust after having ample space for studying back home.

“Freshman year, the library was like my second room. Whenever I had to study or just take a break from the chaos in my room I went to the library especially on Saturdays and Sundays,” Carbini said. “The weekend is a great time for students to cram in a bunch of homework in peace with resources at their side. The closure of the library is a major inhibitor in my student growth and I hope a change is made.” Tara Towson, a junior elementary education major, lives off-campus but has taken advantage of the quiet areas on campus since she was a freshman.

“The library has always been an awesome place where I can be alone and have complete silence,” Towson said. “Closing on Saturdays can be a major issue for me and many other students who utilize the library as much as I do. I have to admit that it was the perfect spot to get my assignments done and I am upset it is no longer an option on Saturdays.”