In December, Marquel Anteola, reference and instruction librarian, wrote a web post on the Eunice & James L. West Library website that announced that the study rooms on the third floor of the library now use key access, and students will be required to check out a key at the circulation desk.

“Users need to go to the circulation desk to check out a key prior to accessing the rooms,”Anteola said on the web post. “Rooms are available for a period of four hours. If you need additional study time, please return to the circulation desk prior to the end of the four hours to renew the key check-out time.”

Library service and assistant manager Sherri Parker said the library`s decision to make the study rooms lockable was due to acts of vandalism last semester, which resulted in making them unavailable to students who needed to use them. The library also had to spend their budget on repairs.

“We actually started it at the end of last semester,” Parker said. “We had some vandalisms in two of the study rooms that required them to be out of service for quite some time. In efforts of trying to keep up with who is in the study rooms we went ahead and lock them, and made it where in order to use the study rooms students need to check out a key. Then we check the rooms afterwards, so that we can know if there was any vandalism.”

Parker said many years ago the library always kept the study rooms locked. Only graduate students had access to the room keys, and undergraduate students were not allow to use them. Around 1995, due to a change in leadership, all students were granted access to the study rooms, but after the vandalism the library decided to lock the study rooms again. The keys are being given out on a first-come first-serve basis to all students.

Freshman business major Katelyn Gordon said she thinks the new policy is a great way to do homework and other activities between classes since she lives off-campus.

“I thinks it’s great that we have keys to the rooms now,” Gordon said. “It kind of gives me a sense of security; you know, I can study my speeches now before class without having to feel like anyone is watching me.”