Published: September 24, 2009

Operating hours at the Quinn Library will be shortened for the 2009-2010 school year, a cut due largely to a tightened university budget. The library will close at midnight on Sunday through Thursday, two hours earlier than the previous 2 a.m. closing time. The library will continue to close at 8 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Opening times for the library will not be affected, and the law school library will not see a cut in hours.

According to Linda Loschiavo, director of the Quinn Library at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC), the cut in hours is just one of the effects the cut in spending will have on the library.

“Our materials budget has been cut by over 50 percent which means that we will be buying far fewer books, DVDs and journals this year,” Loschiavo said. “These changes are temporary and I am confident that these restrictions will be lifted as soon as it is financially feasible.” According to Loschiavo, the library will hold extended hours until 2 a.m. during midterms and finals.

Jim McCabe, university librarian, said that the materials budget has dropped to $500,000, and that the cut in hours will save the university up to $100,000 a year.

“Cutting back library hours is a step that no one really wanted to take,” McCabe said.

Ian Hoerner, FCLC ’11, said that the cut in hours will have a “monumental” effect on students, especially on those who “have become dependent on the library as a place to get work done.”

“I know other students who make themselves at home in the library,” he said. “Some people can’t get work done in their rooms. The library is a great place to focus and prepare, and it’s really unfair that the university is taking away something so important.”

“For students who work late and need to come home to finish school work, the cut is just unbelievable, and I would think it would be on the bottom of the university’s list of cutbacks,” Hoerner said.

Sarah Shultz, FCLC ’11 and a student worker in Quinn Library, said the cut in hours is putting “some strain” on her work schedule.

“The thing I love about working din the library is the flexible hours,” Shultz said. “It is really a great place to work as a student because it is so accommodating to your schedule. However, with the cut in hours, I feel like I’m running around trying to find time to work.”

“Two hours at night might not seem like a lot, but they were really important when you’re trying to fulfill your work-study obligations,” said Schultz.

Keith Eldredge, dean of students at FCLC, said that the university is “trying very hard” to not allow budget cuts to impact students, and that the cut in the library’s hours is most likely the “most drastic” change students will see.

“Certainly there were cuts to operating budgets,” Eldredge said. “Last year we were asked to eliminate all non-essential spending.”

“We stopped having food at meetings, and we looked at ways to save money on copying and travel,” he said.

When the university made budget cuts official in June, Eldredge said, “these small changes were made concrete.”

Eldredge explained that funds for event programming and club activities comes from a separate budget, one that “has maintained and has not been cut.”

“Ironically, my goal this year was to keep Quinn open 24/7 ,but the financial crisis has forced me to postpone this indefinitely,” Loschiavo said. “The decision to shorten the library hours was difficult and painful.”