The Pearson Library at California Lutheran University has cut down its hours this semester as a result of staffing issues. The library now closes at 6 p.m. on weekdays and is not open during the weekends.
“It really makes me sad. It’s really challenging because I don’t want to close the library, none of my staff want to close the library,” Director of Pearson Library Rachel Smiley said.
According to Renée Fournier, a junior at Cal Lutheran, the library closure comes at an inconvenient time due to the fact that the Student Union has closed some of its study rooms.
Smiley and her staff understand that the library is a service for students where they can study, hang out and reserve study rooms. She said they are doing their best to resume normal hours.
“We realize it’s a strain on the students of the university. It’s not ideal. We do our best to keep the library open to serve the needs of our students. We definitely see the need to have it go beyond 6 p.m.,” the Library Public Services Coordinator Jennette Bristol said.
To resume the libraries’ normal weekly hours they need to hire some new staff members, Smiley said.
“We started the semester understaffed.” she said. “So, we started down a few positions. For the last few weeks we have been working as fast as we can to open a search and hire and onboard someone to help support our evening and weekend hours.”
According to Smiley, the library is currently hiring an evening circulation coordinator.
“We should be onboarding that new staff member very soon. So everything will resume back to normal very soon,” Smiley said.
Bristol said the library team is working as fast as they can on their end to fill those positions.
No one has offered to volunteer or work unpaid, Smiley said. Some of the library staff members will be adjusting their schedules to stay during the evenings until the positions are filled, said Smiley, with these evening hours being in place until the end of the semester.
Although the librarian staff has been missing a few positions, the library is full in regards to student worker positions.
“It’s really just a staffing issue. I understand why people want it to be open later and if we could we would, but it’s really just more of a librarian issue than a student worker issue,” Fournier said.
According to recent data collected by library gate card swipes, ITS and student worker patron counts, library usage by students spikes in the month of October– the time at which midterms usually fall.
The number of students that used the library in September to October in the 2023/2024 school year increased by 543 ID card swipes. Smiley expects the same trend to continue this year.
“We know that we are approaching midterms. We know that we want to resume those evening hours,” Smiley said.
Last year, the library recorded 4,249 card swipes by students throughout the whole month of September, according to the library ID card swipe data. This year, through Sept. 25, the library has only received 3,382 ID card swipes.
“When we look at the past academic year and we look at our usage we do see some decreases overall,” Smiley said.
With the library staff adjusting their schedules and new hires being onboarded, the library is close to being back to full staff and back to their normal hours, Smiley said.
“It’s really challenging and for us we are just trying to do the best we can to resume those hours as soon as possible,” Smiley said.
