University of South Florida: Library Hours Cut as University Spending Shrinks

UPDATE (2) August 29, 2013
USF Students “Sit Out” in Peaceful Protest  (via WUSF)

Student Body President, University Provost and Dean of Libraries met Thursday afternoon and they reached an agreement to extend library hours during midterms and finals week. It has not been determined yet how much later the library would be open those weeks.

UPDATE August 29, 2013
Video: USF Students “Sit-Out” to Protest Reduced Library Hours (via WMNF)
An interview with protest leaders.
The “sit-out” took place last night.
Here’s coverage of the protest from the USF student paper.
USF Library Sit-Out Protest Page on Facebook
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From The Oracle (Student Newspaper at USF):

More than 1,000 students have signed online petitions and liked Facebook pages calling for the restoration of the USF Tampa Library hours to its 24/5 schedule.
The Library’s reduced hours, now open from 7:30 a.m. until midnight on Mondays through Thursdays and until 6 p.m. on Fridays, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and from noon to midnight on Sundays, are part of the financial belt-tightening students will begin to feel as the university embarks on its plans to become more financially sound and different segments of the university discuss how to best fund necessary operations
[Clip]
[William] Garrison [dean of USF Libraries], who said his staff “fought tooth and nail” until last week to keep the Library open 24/5, said as the university undergoes spending reduction, there are no longer funds for keeping the Library open.
“We don’t have enough to fund 24/5,” he said. “At the same time, we’ve been under a mandate from the Provost to make sure that we don’t cut our materials used for teaching, learning and research. So the material costs have gone up, but our budget has gone down. We’ve been robbing Peter to pay Paul, if you will, to make sure the budget balances. But this year is really critical, because we just don’t have the money to fund it.”

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