Donations Help UC Berkeley Restore Library Hours
As students protest, concerned parents ensure Saturday hours and 24/7 exam schedule
Lynn Blumenstein -- Library Journal, 10/19/2009
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- Private donations to maintain 24/7 access during exams
- Protesters occupied closed library for 24 hours
- Saturday hours at satellite libraries to resume
University of California, Berkeley (UCB) library administrators won’t have to deal with any more protest actions this year over reduced library hours, after a group of "Berkeley parents"—their children are UCB alumni—have donated a total of $80,000 to restore hours.
The UC system is dealing with a $750 million budget gap and libraries around the system are undertandably under pressure; for example, the University of California, Los Angeles, facing a $1.8 million library operating budget reduction, has established a "study team" to advise on possible closures.
Closures now reversed
UCB closed all but two libraries on Saturdays earlier this academic year and ended 24/7 access to Doe & Moffitt Library during exam periods. A $30,000 donation from Mark and Lisa Steiny will be used to keep that library open during exams. Another $50,000 in combined parent donations will be used to return Saturday hours to several satellite libraries.
Protesters occupy library
Leonard was referring to the action taken last weekend, when students, along with some staffers and faculty, occupied the George and Mary Foster Anthropology Library for 24 hours to protest Saturday closures of smaller libraries.
Some 300 protestors showed up at 5 p.m. on Friday, just when the library was scheduled to close for the weekend. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, some 80 students camped out over night, studied, and held discussions over campus budget issues.
According to UCB, a return to the regular schedule will be phased in, beginning with one library this weekend. All libraries should be back on their pre-budget-cut schedule by mid-November.
