suggestionsLibrary Hours - a hot topic, we received several suggestions this week:  Keep at least the 2nd floor open past 11:45 PM. Open up at 7 AM on Saturday’s & Sunday’s. Open for longer hours –to 1AM.  Have the library run for 24 hours DEAD week as in the week everyone should be studying and have assignments due….instead of just Finals week. Better hours the weekend before finals.  Opening at 10 AM is too late.  Closing at 11:30 PM is too early.  Chill and have more hours!  I think the computer lab needs to be open 24 hours for finals week.  Why are not open this semester? 24 hour library, please!  I depend on the library to study! Library should be open later and also allow 2nd floor to stay open to 2 AM or make better use of the 1st floor study room.  Example: couches w/o desks & not enough tables.   

Answer: We are currently evaluating our operating hours for next year.   There are many factors that go into deciding what our operating hours will be, including building usage, ability to provide services and staffing, funding, safety concerns, and the enormous cost (both financial and sustainability/energy related)  of operating a building of this size.  We have many years of experience operating at different times and have a good idea of what hours work well for the vast majority of students, but we know that at times some students would like us to be open later and/or earlier.  We have explored the option of only keeping the first and second floors open during certain times in the past and unfortunately it is difficult to properly secure the upper areas of the building due to fire codes and elevator access.  We have worked toward improving the study spaces on the first floor but we hope to further improve this area by purchasing additional furniture in the near future. University Police and other entities on campus have expressed concerns about safety on campus in the middle of the night, not only for student employees who would be required to work those hours, but also for any students who need to leave the library at 3:00 or 4:00am when Campus Connection rides are no longer available.  It was a difficult but necessary decision to eliminate the extra hours this semester, but we will re-evaluate in the future.

Can you join the Link+ library network?  Great suggestion!  We like LINK+ and how it makes borrowing resources from over 50 other libraries so easy to do.  It costs more money than we have, so we haven’t pursued it at this point.  However, the CSU Libraries (all 23 campuses and the research institute at Moss Landing) have been working on a project that will allow for direct borrowing from any CSU Library.  This project, called the Unified Library Management System (ULMS), is underway and will arrive at Chico State June of 2017.  In the meantime, please use Interlibrary Loan (ILL) services; our ILL staff are experts at obtaining materials from any library in the world that will lend them.

Don’t have charge for Samsung Galaxies.  The vendor that provides our charging stations doesn’t provide the proprietary Samsung cables.  However, standard micro-USB cables are provided on the stations, and these should also charge your device.  We tested several Galaxy phones and the micro-USB worked on them.  Give it a try, and if you find that you still can’t charge your device, please give more information on the model of your phone and we’ll look into purchasing an appropriate cable.

More of the good chairs.  We’re working on replacing all of the vinyl chairs as funding becomes available.  We hope to have all replaced within a couple of years.

Make faster elevators!  The elevators were recently re-programmed to provide faster service.  You may notice that they occasionally idle on a floor, with the doors open.  This is to improve wait times and allow elevators to most efficiently respond to floors when called.

More bean bags. Please!  Thanks for the suggestion.  We’ll consider purchasing additional bean bags in the near future.

Better vending machine options.  We’ll pass your suggestion on to our vending machine supplier.

Cooler A/C it’s so hot. and A/C on the 4th floor.  Due to the size of the building, it is difficult to maintain consistent temperatures throughout but occasionally certain areas ca become uncomfortably cool or warm.  Please let us know when you experience this and we can pass this information on to Facilities Management & Services.

More tables on the 3rd floor.  Most of 3rd Floor is considered a “silent, individual study” area so to discourage group work, we have purposefully limited the number of tables in some areas.  However, we are looking into better furniture options for individual study for those who don’t like using the older, wooden box carrels.

Keep 3rd floor rooms quiet.  Have someone on duty.  While 3rd Floor in general is reserved for silent, individual study, the study rooms on the east side are for group study.  As such, it is not expected that groups remain completely silent.  Unfortunately, the walls are thin and sound travels easily.  If a group is being unusually noisy, please let us know and we will ask them to be quieter.  In the future, we hope build additional study rooms on second floor so that all of third floor can be reserved for individual study.

New headphones in the computer lab on the 4th floor.  Almost all are broken.  Can’t believe you don’t get new ones.  We will pass this suggestion on to I.T.S.S., who manage the computer labs.

More plants on the other floors.  Good idea, thanks for the suggestion.