Keeping the library accessible, at all hours, in the thick of finals
Ensuring the U of A's Main Library remains safe and accessible becomes perhaps most critical around finals season. Much of that mission rests, in large part, on Diona Lumia, an operational lead focused on building safety and operations.
Photo by Kyle Mittan, University Communications
There are few places on campus that capture the vibe of "being in college" better than the Main Library just before final exams.
On a recent night in early December, at about 7pm, the building's lower floors hummed with groups of students huddled around projects. Food wrappers and empty, holiday-themed Starbucks cups were stuffed into trash cans outside packed study rooms. Formulas, essay outlines and other notes covered the rooms' glass walls and whiteboards as students crammed, some focused, others weary-eyed. A few floors up, deep in the stacks, students found spaces to work in relative silence.
Many intended to stay at the library into the wee hours: A message scrawled on the board outside one study room declared that it was reserved until 1am, another until 3am. The Main Library is open to the public from 7am to 9pm most days of the week. It's accessible by CatCard at night so the university community can use it until midnight, and during finals, it's open around the clock.
Ensuring the library remains safe and accessible for everyone is always top of mind. But that mission becomes perhaps most critical around finals season, when the libraries count as many as 5,380 visitors per day, a roughly 35% uptick over a more average day midsemester.
That mission toward safety amid a surge in nighttime library use is supported by Diona Lumia. Lumia, a library services associate in the University Libraries Access and Information Services Department, is an operational lead focused on building safety and operations.