Janeanne's Blog

I understand that it must be costly to keep Hamersley open for the entire year. However, there are Professors of Summer classes that give students projects that are due in September. It is not easy to find resources available during this time period. It is nice to be able to rely on our Hamersley Library as a resource for those projects. Other universities have much more student-frindly hours for their libraries and bookstores.

The library closure was terrible, even if it saved lots of money (which I doubt). I'm a faculty member who was finishing a book this summer; the library was absolutely essential. But my inconvenience using a different library pales in comparision to the symbolic message that a closed library sends to students, faculty, staff, and the community at large: that the heart of the university isn't functioning. I would like to stay at WOU for a long time; regular library closures would be the kind of thing to make me think about employment elsewhere.

I happened to be taking a three week summer course the same three weeks the library was closed. As a student I am paying for the service of the library in my tuition and fees. If money wanted to be saved by not employing student workers for thoes three weeks I don't understand why the nonstudent library staff could not have taken shifts at the ref and checkout desks to keep the library open. To close the library while students are enrolled in classes is appalling.

Yes the closure was extremely inconvenient! I was in the middle on two online classes offered through Western Oregon. Not having a computer or internet at home I rely on the services I pay for with my tuition. Although the computer lab in the old library was opened limited hours, it was difficult to get all the work I needed to complete finished without access to all the resources in the library- ie. Curriculum books on the second floor. Although I understand the university's predicament with the budget, I feel students should have access to the services we pay for with our tuition and the university should not close the library while classes are in session. I believe these closures demonstrated a lack of forethought and concern for the students attending post-summer session classes.

Comment from a faculty person via my email--JRK

I don't blog, but need to say that I missed having the Library open as I developed a new course in early September, before Faculty Week crushed down on us all. Because you faculty librarians worked anyway during the closure, I can't imagine that you saved that much money (how many student aides DO you employ?), but you did create a lot of inconvenience 8^(

Submitted by a student to my email--JRK

I was not affected atall as I live 30 miles away and did not take any courses this summer hence all my library needs were diverted to McMinnville, my local library, for the summer. Thanks for asking though!

It might be selfish, but I missed having a quiet place to go during my lunch hour.

I was inconvenienced a bit. I had a book through the Summit system that was due back during that time. I had to find another library to turn the book into. I had a small over due fee.

I am a WOU student, but I was not taking any summer courses. When I came back to Monmouth and discovered the library was closed it was an inconvenience, but then I realized all I needed was access to the internet and a copier. So then I went to Werner or the APS computer lab. As long as those facilities were open, the library being closed was not a problem.

As a faculty member conducting research over the summer, the closure was an inconvenience. Although many articles are available full text online, for the journals that WOU carries in the library, that resource is not an option. One article that I needed to finish up a publication was not available until the library reopened. In the future, could the library remain open, if even for limited hours, throughout the summer?

As a WOU student the library closure didn't affect me negatively! If it saved funds then i was all for it. However i was excited to see the library open again for the fall!
:)Mollie

Fortunately, the library staff was excellent about helping faculty work around the closure but I have one major concern: As an institution of higher education, the library is our symbolic and practical "center" outside of the classroom. Having it closed, especially because of funding, does not communicate the priorities of the university well (or perhaps represents priorities with which I disagree). I realize there were cuts across the university, including curriculum and instruction but I would like to see instruction and access to the library be the university administration's top priorities for summer budgeting.

Being an RA here at Western I found it really inconvienient that the library was closed at the beginning of september. The RA's try to get work done before residents move in and need to use the printing and whatnot - it was difficult not having the library as a resource that many of us use!!

I came from La Grande this summer for a three week bio336 class and I was completely and totally incovenienced. I had no access to research and other materials that I needed. I was not pleased with this problem, I had to make other arrangements and none of them were Convenient, I thought that if you pay an exorbitant fee to attend a class, that at the very least you would have library privileges; not only were there no library privileges but there was no access to the weightroom either! This is in no way reflective upon the professor, I have a great deal of respect for him, he is an excellent teacher and he was one of the most positive aspects of the summer.

I am a Senior at Western, and the temporary closure of the library did not inconvenience me at all. In fact, I think that if the reason for doing so was to save money, then, that's exactly what they should have done.

I work during the summer at TRI and I was dreading the library closure. It wasn't as much of an inconvenience for me as I had anticipated, because I could still get articles electronically but I did miss being able to drop by anytime that I needed to. Also, it does make me sad that it was necessary to close the library due to limited funding.

I was stunned to find the library closed! Did anyone realize that at least one class [PS202(W), online] was in progress until September 8? I had a computer crash in my home and was relying on access to the college library computers to stay on schedule for both weekly assignments and research for a required end of term paper. But the library was locked down. So I tried both the Monmouth and Independence public libraries and found that as a "non-resident" I couldn't use those as a backup either. Both of those were also also closed during Sunday, providing another hurdle to research in addition to their very limited access and content. I ended up doing a very rush job at a friend's computer back home in Astoria.

Since I was staying here locally for the summer to complete the quarter, I also lost access to an open workspace as I found the Werner Center and all of the other building on campus also locked up on the last weekends of summer. I was not a happy camper.

I had relied on the posted "summer hours" and the bookmark/flier that I had come across at the beginning of summer quarter. I was dumbfounded to find that the library, of all resources, was locked away. What was the administration thinking?

Perhaps it would be better to shift some of the funds expended on the excellence of lawn care and the upkeep of the exterior appearance of WOU towards keeping the basic functions (like access to information) open. I think the administration has lost sight of the primary function of a university, college or school: LEARNING.

Thank you for letting me express my exasperation.

Sincerely, Cory Trotter

I appreciate that the school was trying to save money, however, I really needed the use of the facility to complete the application for my student loans and found it inconvenient that the library was closed.

As a summer student and Summer Conference Assistant for OUR this last summer break, as well as a Resident Assistant this year. I have to say that the library closure was a major inconvenience to me. I (and many of my fellow RA's) use the library alot when it comes to getting start-of-the-year work done. Basically the library closed right when I started working on everything for my community this year.

The closure inconvenienced me not at all as a WOU staff member.

My loss was more of a sense of loss than a real loss. When the impulse to stop by the [closed] library hit, I realized it wasn't urgent and that it could wait another week or so.

I think it was fine--hardly anyone on campus at that time and if it saves money we can use it! thanks for doing your part!

I thought it a good idea - I did not hear anyone complain about the closure. As a staff member of the College of Education, we all thought we should close also, but alas, no luck!

The only problem I encountered was that a meeting scheduled for the morning (Staff Senate), of Aug. 11 had a little bit of a problem accessing the library.

The students in the extended or second session of summer session classes were not served well with the closure. The comments I heard from students (three) suggested a forewarning of the closure at the beginning of the summer would have helped them. All three admitted to procrastination and they were caught off-guard by the closure. Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

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