Library should be open on holidays

I woke up early last Monday morning, Labor Day, to get some research done at the Homer Babbidge Library. When I arrived at the library, at around 10:30a.m., the doors were locked and the lights were out. Maybe it is opening a little later, I thought. Perhaps it is operating on a holiday or weekend schedule.

I walked over to the posted hours of operation of the library and was shocked. The library was closed all day Monday. I was forced to do my research in the 24-hour study lobby, a place that truly offers a serene atmosphere in which to conduct research, with its perfect silence and inspired interior décor.

Labor Day closed the library, but not the UConn Co-op. What makes the Co-op workers any less worthy of such a holiday? Or should the question be: how does the Co-op augment the UConn learning experience so much more than the library? Why does it remain open when the library is closed?

Labor Day signifies the respect for the labor movement and modern legislation to protect American citizens' working conditions. Maybe it is fair that the library is closed. Why should the librarians work on a day of reverence for those who labored so intensely before the turn of the 20th century? Immigrants from all over Europe were treated as slave labor, without a living wage, without safe or clean working conditions and without maximum hourly restrictions. They fought to get modern labor standards and we celebrate this grand accomplishment every first Monday of Sept. with Labor Day.

The librarians and work-study students at the library were afforded a day off, thanks to the tireless efforts of ill-treated workers to gain social and economic achievements over 120 years ago. Why did the Co-op people work?

Maybe they are different types of employees. The Co-op is more seasonal at this point. They have a rush because of all the students who are getting their books and UConn gear. The possibility exists that they have seasonal employment. There are employees who are only working at the beginning of the semester. Why not transfer some of them to the library if they are in need of work?

The people who work at the library need training, and I am sure that there would be people with this training who would be willing to work for their wages on Labor Day. I find it hard to believe there would not be any work-study students or staff librarians not willing to work on Labor Day, when there are enough people to staff the Co-op.

Is it that important that students are able to buy their books on Labor Day that the Co-op must be open?

If the reason that the Co-op is open is academics--then why close the library? The library is the true focal point of academia on campus. Students may go to the Co-op to purchase their books, but they can't access the Internet there. They cannot get their reserved materials. They cannot do any word processing there. That is just to name a few advantages that the library has over the Co-op in offering students academic opportunity. Is it more important that students are able to buy sweatshirts and t-shirts, or that they are able to study?

As I sat in the 24-hour study lounge, which I have come to realize actually doubles as a social center, I watched student after student go up to the library door only to find it locked. With book bags teeming with their work, they were denied entrance to the closed library only to look with consternation back at the filled 24-hour study lounge.

Argument could be made that if studying in a quiet place is so important, there is the 24-hour quiet room. Yes, that is true. The 24-hour quiet room is located in a private enclave near the library's entrance, with no access to computers. Without access to computers or a printer, which are not available in the 24-hour study lobby, how is one supposed to complete all of one's work?

Of course, I have also heard the argument that every dorm has a computer lab. That is, every dorm except the graduate dorms. The graduate dorms is where I, and hundreds of other students reside without any computers on Labor Day.

As I write this, I ask; why does this disparity exist? I assume that someone will be able to give me a quality answer that will satisfy my inquiry.