Michael Deas, News Editor
11th December 2007

Students are disillusioned with the LSE Library on many fronts, a survey conducted by The Beaver has revealed. Students expressed their dismay at the withdrawal of the twenty-four hour opening, with seventy-nine percent of the 350 students surveyed calling for its return. Students also complained that the Library fails to provide adequate copies of essential readings, study space and computer facilities.

The Library was open twenty four hours a day during all three terms of the last academic year. This year the library will continue to close at midnight until twenty-four hour opening returns during the Easter holiday and summer term, with the school claiming that “resources could be better directed elsewhere”.

However, many students have told The Beaver that the School has failed to understand the value of twenty four hour opening.

A second year undergraduate said, “I have a job, I can’t study 9-5. Since the LSE is all about the reading list because there is so little contact time, library access is incredibly important. Having the library open after midnight helped me immensely last year.”

The LSE Students’ Union (LSESU) are launching a campaign to bring back 24 hour library access during Michaelmas and Lent terms. A document outlining the main arguments for longer opening hours is due to be presented to the school at the beginning of the year. The Union also hopes to organise a petition to demonstrate support for the campaign.

Fadhil Bakeer Markar, LSESU General Secretary, said: “The overwhelming support for our campaign this survey reveals is great news. Our campaign hopes to win what the students want and enhance their experience on campus. Hopefully we will be able to address the concerns of those who don’t yet support twenty four hour opening and win their support for this great campaign.”

Peter Barton, a member of the campaign team, told The Beaver: “Students use the library after midnight because they have to. Some students work during the day and for others it is reassuring to know the library will be open for them when they really need it, no matter what time, even if that is only once or twice a term to meet an important deadline.”

The cost to the School of opening the library around the clock during Michaelmas and Lent terms would be £74,704. Hiring security overnight costs £36,360 and extra Estates’ costs such as energy total, £38,347.

However, the campaign team argue that as the School pays these costs in keeping computer room A038 open twenty four hours a day as compensation for the removal of late library opening, it would instead be a better use of resources to keep the library open.

Furthermore, it is argued that £74,704 is a relatively low figure in context of an institution with a multi-million pound turnover. However, many students said that twenty four hour library access would be excessive. But The Beaver understands that if the library were to close at 2am – as many students told The Beaver would be adequate – they would have to pay for security staff to travel home in taxis rather than use public transport, eradicating any savings made by not staying open around the clock.

The Beaver‘s survey also asked students if – given that the school is citing cost as the main argument against extended twenty four hour opening – they would be prepared to pay a nominal fee (eg 50p) to use the library after midnight. Whilst 48 percent of respondents said they would be prepared to pay such a charge, many students met this question with anger.

One Masters student said, “I already pay £12,000 to study here. The LSE is already one of the most expensive universities in the world. It would be outrageous to charges us to use a service that most other leading universities provide for free.”

But one third year said he was so desperate to be able to use the library he would pay towards keeping it open after midnight: “It would constitute another way in which students are being turned into cash cows, but at the moment, due to other commitments, I hardly spend any time in the library compared to last year. so I’d have to accept it”

Students who were not in favour of twenty four hour opening said that they feared that if money was spent extending opening hours that this would detract from investment in other areas such as extending course collections and increasing study space.

However, Barton told The Beaver: “There is no reason that a world class social science institution cannot have both top class facilities and round the clock access to them.”

The survey conducted by The Beaver revealed a wide variety of students’ concerns with the library besides opening times.

88% of respondants had encountered problems finding essential readings. One first year undergraduate said, “There was only one copy of a text needed for my course. One book for 200 students is ridiculous! We have since discovered that the one copy has been lost and not replaced.”

Students have also expressed concerns that given that study at the LSE puts a high emphasis on private study provision of essential texts must be better.

“Many universities offer three hour loans of essential texts. At my home university, there are copies of core texts that cannot be taken out on loan,” one General Course student explained.

A second year student said that many students requiring the same texts at the same time was a huge problem, “I recently went to get some books out for an essay but my fellow students had beaten me to it and nearly all of the vaguely relevant texts were gone. How I am supposed to do my essay?”

Other students also complained that the library is too loud. One second year said, “Our library used to be a warehouse for WHSmith. It’s too open plan and noise echoes. I goto the King’s library because it is actually quiet enough to work in.”

Several students have also expressed their concern that whilst the Students’ Union and is embarking on a campaign to bring back twenty hour library access, they may be ignoring the plethora of other issues students have with the library.

“It’s all very well having 24/7 access to books, but we need the books first” a first year told the survey.

Anybody wanting to take part in the campaign for the twenty four hour library should contact .