Starting Monday, October 19, the 1st floor of Library-North will remain open until 10:30 PM, Mondays through Thursdays.

Based upon the results of the recent online survey (and thanks to everyone who took the time to respond about time and schedule preferences) the highest student desire is for study space and access to computers. Also, the preference for extending evening hours outweighed opening on Sundays.

Most of the Library will still close at 9:00 PM Mondays-Thursdays. All of Library South will be closed as well as the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors of Library North. Only the 1st floor of Library North will remain open until 10:30.

This will accommodate the need for access to study space and computers. The 125 workstations in the Information and Learning Commons (ILC) will be available. The print reference collection will also be available (but not the circulating collection housed in Library South).

After 9:00 PM only very basic assistance by a Library Assistant will be available at the Information and Learning Commons counter. Community Support Officers (”yellow shirts”) will be patrolling and providing building security after closure of the rest of the Library.

This is a bare-bones response to the needs students have communicated. The Library has not discovered a pot of “new” money; its budget remains under the same challenges facing all campus entities. Dollars supporting extended hours are additional dollars taken from the budgets supporting purchase of information resources and staff assistance in their use.

The Library has finished compiling the results from our Library Hours survey that ran from 12:00pm on Thursday, October 1st through 5:00pm on Tuesday, October 6th.

A total of 655 surveys were received.

We thank everyone who participated in the survey and assure you that these results have been shared with library administration. We are still still discussing and considering all of our options.

Question 1: Do you need the Library open more hours?

Note: 100% of survey participants answered this question.

Question 2: If you answered yes in Question 1, what is the most important use for you?

Note: 92.98% of survey participants answered this question.

Question 3: If you answered yes in Question 1, what is your second most important use?

Note: 91.30% of survey respondents answered this question.

Question 4: If you answered yes in Question 1, what change in hours would best meet your needs?

Note: 89.62% of survey respondents answered this question.

Question 5: Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about the issue of library hours?

Notes:

• 29.16% of all survey respondents provided an answer to this question.
• The 58 public comments can be viewed under our survey post.
• We are still compiling, and trying to find the right format, to share the 133 anonymous comments submitted in the survey form.

Thank you for your participation. We welcome additional comments below.

Do our new library hours meet your needs?

Do you need the Library open more hours? Or are you still able to get books/materials and do your research, studying, and computer work within our current hours structure?

We would like to hear your answers!

You only have until 5pm on Tuesday to take our survey.

NOTE: Because the free web survey service we initially used will only accept 100 responses, we had to move to this new poll format to continue running the survey through its deadline. All previous results have been saved, and will be calculated in with these results. We apologize for the mix-up.

Please Click the Vote button after answering each question.

In response to concerns raised by students regarding recent budget cuts to the CSU and the consequent effects on library services, staffing, and materials, we would like your input on this aspect of library cuts.

Please note: This survey closes at 5:00pm on Tuesday, October 6th.

We will share our findings after the survey closes.

Like other Cal State Fullerton entities, and indeed the entire state of California, the Pollak Library is coping with large budget reductions and mandatory employee furloughs. Although the library has attempted to minimize the impact of these cuts on the quality of the library’s collections and services, inevitably these reductions in budget and staff time result in changes in the daily operations of the library. In an effort to keep the campus community apprised of those changes, University Librarian, Richard Pollard has written a letter (.pdf) detailing the changes and explaining the rationale behind them. The areas of the library currently impacted by the reductions include library open hours, reduced library licensing and purchases of books, journals, and databases, changes to the number of interlibrary loan requests that can be active at one time, and a reduction in services on official campus furlough days.  Read the memo (.pdf) for details of these policy changes.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

In considering alternative ways of reducing expenditures, the focus has been on how to make the best use of the Library’s resources and services.

The Library’s open hours remain unchanged.  (7:30-10:30, Monday-Thursday; 7:30-5:00 Friday; 10:00-5:00 Saturday; Noon-7:00 Sunday)

Circulation Desk will close at 9:00; self-checkout is possible thereafter, but there will be no counter assistance.

Reference and Research Services Desk in the ILC will open at 9:00 am and close at 7:00 pm, Monday-Thursday (Friday 9:00-5:00).  24/7 online virtual reference will continue to be available.

Direction Desk in the Atrium will be closed from February 9th.

AV (Audio-Visual) Desk will be staffed only from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm Monday-Thursday, and from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. Friday (Saturday/Sunday hours unchanged).  The Circulation Desk will provide some A-V services when the 4th floor desk is closed.

Circulation and Interlibrary Loan policy changes

Recalling of checked-out materials will be resumed.  Use of interlibrary loan for books checked out of the Pollak Library will cease since the associated costs are no longer affordable.

Failure to return recalled materials will result in blocking of borrowing and interlibrary loan privileges.  The intent here is to ensure that scarcer resources are equitably shared by the CSUF community.  The Academic Senate Library Committee was unanimous in supporting this policy change.

Acquisition of New Materials

The Library’s materials budget has been trimmed, but there are no drastic cuts in either print or electronic resources.   A one-time grant from the Patrons of the Library (our community support group) will help sustain purchasing power for critical materials during the remainder of this fiscal year.

Streaming Video

Streaming video is no longer available.  However, the  Media Commons on the first floor opposite the Circulation Desk should make viewing AV materials relatively easy.

Questions are bound to arise as these changes are implemented with the beginning of the semester.  These can be directed to staff at our public service desks or via the “Problems & Suggestions” form.