The stats for Week One of the Dal Night Owls project speak for themselves: students want to burn the post-midnight oil at the library! The numbers just kept increasing from Sunday March 8 through Thursday March 12.
Sunday – 27
Monday – 43
Tuesday – 67
Wednesday – 81
Thursday – 83
Are you a Dal or King’s student looking for a safe, secure place to study after midnight? Look no further.
Beginning the night of Sunday March 7th, the Learning Commons in the Killam Library will remain open after midnight, Sundays through Thursdays, until the last day of exams. Extended hours apply to the North and South Learning Commons only. The Help Desk, Circulation Desk, and upper library floors will close at midnight.
After midnight
Parking/Safety
Results are in! From November 26 to December 2, 2009, the Killam Library ran a survey in the Learning Commons to learn more about demand for our workstations. A whopping 946 workstation users responded to our pop-up invitation (a 40% response rate) and told us all the reasons why they prefer to use our workstations rather than their own laptops.
The biggest issues keeping people from using their laptops were inadequacies of the wireless signal and the inability to print from laptops, rated 3-5 on a scale of 0-5 by 52% and 57% of respondents respectively. The good news is that Dalhousie is installing a new wireless system across campus. By this summer, Killam library users should have much better wireless service, with wireless accessible in the stacks where there are more workspaces with electrical outlets. We are also working with our campus partners to enable laptop users to send print jobs to the Learning Commons printers.
Despite these improvements, however, respondents have indicated that they may still prefer to use the workstations due to the better ergonomics, great atmosphere and convenience of the Learning Commons.
We want Killam Library users to be able to choose the computing method they prefer. The excellent insight provided by these survey respondents means we are better able to ensure that they have these options. A big thank you to everyone who participated in this survey!
Midnight to 3:00 a.m., with valid Dalhousie ID
Sunday through Thursday
March 8 – April 24, 2010
Stressing about finals? Need more late night study time? We hear you!
Beginning March 8th, the Learning Commons in the Killam Library will remain open after midnight, Sundays through Thursdays, until the last day of exams.
Dal Night Owls is an initiative of Student Services and the Dalhousie Libraries.
*Prior to midnight, you can only park in the McCain Parkade if you purchase a ticket from the dispenser. We’re sorry we can’t make it free earlier, but this is the main parking area for events at the Arts Centre each evening. Cars must leave the Parkade when the Learning Commons closes at 3:00 a.m.
We’re very happy to announce that, having successfully completed his 6-month probation, Mick Bottom is now officially the Learning Commons Technical Lead. Mick says:
“I am very pleased to have passed my probationary period. The past six months seem to have flown by and I have enjoyed every minute. I think the Killam Library is a fantastic place to be and there is also a fantastic group of people within it. I feel honoured to be part of that team.
The Learning Commons is already a terrific resource for students and more enhancements to the user experience are on the way in the coming months – watch this space!”