 "Photo: Brenda O'Brian")
A campaign promise to have the Max Chambers Library on campus open 24 hours has turned into a reality for UCOSA President Jason Hines.
Tuesday at the weekly UCOSA meeting, Hines announced to a standing-room-only crowd that the library experiment was a major success.
The 24-hour trial run took place during finals week to see how students would respond to extended library hours. Hines said he was pleased how students took full advantage of it during the week.
Jennifer O'Brien, a junior advertising major, was just one of many students who took advantage of the extended library hours. She said that she used the library every night of finals.
"The 24-hour library was an amazing alternative. It gave students somewhere to study and hang out without having to cram local 24-hour restaurants," O'Brien said.
The success of the 24-hour library period comes after the massive ice storm during finals week that caused major trouble for many UCO students. Knowing that people braved the weather and still showed up made the experiment that much more impressive.
Hines was also very appreciative of the hard work the library workers and volunteers put in during the week. He said their efforts to work late in the night helped make the 24-hour library a success.
"We are very thankful for library volunteers and staff for their long hours they put in over finals week," said Hines.
As a thank you to all the library staff who helped out during the week, Hines declared January 14, 2008 as Library appreciation day at UCO.
Hines hopes to write a bill that would keep the library open even later. His plan is to extend the library hours from 11 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. He said that he wants to do this without having to use student activity fees. Passing this bill is one of Hines major goals of the semester.
Besides the extended library hours, Hines also mentioned that cafeteria hours were extended through UCOSA as a benefit to students. The bill, passed last semester, will keep the cafeteria open around the clock, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Hines also said he is looking forward to UCO hosting the upcoming Oklahoma Student Government Association Spring conference February 28. The OSGA conference is a gathering of delegates from all of the state's higher education institutions. The OSGA gathers to make resolutions that communicate to the State Legislature the issues that must be addressed to help college students. Hines said that at the Fall OSGA conference UCO brought the largest delegation to the fall OSGA conference.
Hines mentioned a few other things he would like to see UCOSA accomplish this semester. Among the things he wants to do is establish "bike pass" legislation on campus. This legislation would provide a special lane on the campus sidewalks for students who ride their bikes to class.
The one thing Hines was pleased most about was the student involvement on campus. He hopes students continue to tackle campus issues head on this semester.
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