Tarleton State University’s Dick Smith Library will have extended hours during finals week to accommodate students who would like to spend more time studying.

Regular hours for the library are, Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. and Friday 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The library is also open Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 12 p.m. to 2 a.m.

“The library will continue regular hours through Thursday, December, 8.  Starting on Friday, December, 9, we will start extending our hours,” Kym Schow, Access Services Librarian, stated. “Friday we will be open from 7 a.m. – 10 p.m. and Saturday we will be open from 8 a.m. -10 p.m.  All night study starts at noon on December, 11, and the library will remain open until 7 p.m. on Wednesday, December, 14.  At that point the library will go to interim hours, open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. until campus closes for the holidays.”

Because some finals are schedule for Saturday, the library will have extended hours on that day. Schow said, “We specifically extended Saturday this year to address Saturday finals.  We regularly open from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. but for finals we will be open from 8 a.m. – 10 p.m., an additional 6 hours.  We wanted to make sure that students with morning and/or evening finals would have the ability and use the library.”

Schow stated, “Last fall during extended hours, the library had 14,122 students use the library.  We had 920 students sign in for all night study that week as well, which means they were in the library sometime between 11:30pm and 7:00am over a four-night period.”

With students spending longer hours and more days in the library, the Study Grounds Café receives more revenue especially in coffee. “According to the Study Grounds Café, they see a definite increase in coffee sales during finals,” Schow said.

“Students during finals generally appear focused and determined.  There are occasions when we see stress on their faces and we do our best to get them the resources or help they need to help relieve some of it,” stated Schow. “We also offer Finals Frenzy coffee stations each year.  Once the Study Grounds Cafe closes for the night, we put out the free coffee for students.”

Check out page 8 for a full library and finals schedule!