Open more Study Spaces at Uni of Leeds
Open more Study Spaces at Uni of Leeds
The Issue
Four weeks into this semester, it's disappointing that only two of the University libraries and one other study space are open, when little rationale for this has been given. The same social distancing measures implemented in Edward Boyle, Laidlaw and Common Ground study areas would be equally effective in Brotherton and Health Sciences, so students are asking why more facilities aren't being opened?
Given that the Asymptomatic Test Centre on campus allows students to access libraries with the confidence of negative test results every week - or staying away otherwise! - the tentative approach to opening up more of campus seems to us confusing and unwarranted.
For students who find it more productive working in libraries free from the distractions of home (personally speaking, most students I know) every day at around 3pm there is essentially what has become a timed competition for library slots - and every day many of us miss out. I personally have just tried at 3:20 on Tue 16th Feb to get tickets for Fri 19th and they're all already gone despite becoming available 5 minutes earlier - this has become the norm, and it's not even exam/deadline season. It's unacceptable that every student who wishes to use the library has had to set alarms for when the tickets come out to ensure they get their place - accessing educational facilities should not feel like trying to get a Glastonbury ticket!
On a more serious note, getting out of the house (and into a safe environment with appropriate hygiene measures) does people a lot of good during this wearying lockdown, especially for those going through a difficult period with their mental health. It's unhealthy to have to work in the same space where you have your down time - it makes it both harder to focus on work, and harder to properly relax afterwards. Unfortunately this is the reality for millions during the pandemic and of course we understand that with social distancing spaces are more limited than in normal times, but it's frustrating to see our University seemingly not choosing to maximise the facilities available.
Adding to the frustration, there is a refusal in the libraries which are open to offer people places on-the-door despite the fact that in every session, even when sold out, there are plenty of empty spaces. People not showing up is perhaps part of the problem, but in this case a more effective system for filling spaces needs to be implemented, such as releasing spaces to others if after an hour of the session a student hasn't arrived.
If there are genuine reasons for the decision to keep half of the libraries closed we want to hear more justification from the University on what these reasons are. Is it a budgetary constraint? This would be frankly unacceptable given that the majority of students already feel that they are not getting their money's worth of education this year and there have even been calls for tuition fees to be refunded. Is it due to staffing? This would be understandable in that more staff are required per library than usual to operate during the pandemic. However it's not unreasonable to think that there's been adequate time for more people to have been hired by the University since many people are looking for jobs right now.
At the end of the day library access is one of the few in-person services still available to students this year that our fees go towards, so it should be an absolute priority to make this service as widely available to the students in Leeds as possible. All we ask is that the University goes to maximum effort for its students to provide the best service it can, to enable us to get through our degrees smoothly in these turbulent times.
Image Credit By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Chemical_Engineer" title="User:Chemical Engineer">Chemical Engineer</a> - <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0" title="Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61973875">Link</a>
566
The Issue
Four weeks into this semester, it's disappointing that only two of the University libraries and one other study space are open, when little rationale for this has been given. The same social distancing measures implemented in Edward Boyle, Laidlaw and Common Ground study areas would be equally effective in Brotherton and Health Sciences, so students are asking why more facilities aren't being opened?
Given that the Asymptomatic Test Centre on campus allows students to access libraries with the confidence of negative test results every week - or staying away otherwise! - the tentative approach to opening up more of campus seems to us confusing and unwarranted.
For students who find it more productive working in libraries free from the distractions of home (personally speaking, most students I know) every day at around 3pm there is essentially what has become a timed competition for library slots - and every day many of us miss out. I personally have just tried at 3:20 on Tue 16th Feb to get tickets for Fri 19th and they're all already gone despite becoming available 5 minutes earlier - this has become the norm, and it's not even exam/deadline season. It's unacceptable that every student who wishes to use the library has had to set alarms for when the tickets come out to ensure they get their place - accessing educational facilities should not feel like trying to get a Glastonbury ticket!
On a more serious note, getting out of the house (and into a safe environment with appropriate hygiene measures) does people a lot of good during this wearying lockdown, especially for those going through a difficult period with their mental health. It's unhealthy to have to work in the same space where you have your down time - it makes it both harder to focus on work, and harder to properly relax afterwards. Unfortunately this is the reality for millions during the pandemic and of course we understand that with social distancing spaces are more limited than in normal times, but it's frustrating to see our University seemingly not choosing to maximise the facilities available.
Adding to the frustration, there is a refusal in the libraries which are open to offer people places on-the-door despite the fact that in every session, even when sold out, there are plenty of empty spaces. People not showing up is perhaps part of the problem, but in this case a more effective system for filling spaces needs to be implemented, such as releasing spaces to others if after an hour of the session a student hasn't arrived.
If there are genuine reasons for the decision to keep half of the libraries closed we want to hear more justification from the University on what these reasons are. Is it a budgetary constraint? This would be frankly unacceptable given that the majority of students already feel that they are not getting their money's worth of education this year and there have even been calls for tuition fees to be refunded. Is it due to staffing? This would be understandable in that more staff are required per library than usual to operate during the pandemic. However it's not unreasonable to think that there's been adequate time for more people to have been hired by the University since many people are looking for jobs right now.
At the end of the day library access is one of the few in-person services still available to students this year that our fees go towards, so it should be an absolute priority to make this service as widely available to the students in Leeds as possible. All we ask is that the University goes to maximum effort for its students to provide the best service it can, to enable us to get through our degrees smoothly in these turbulent times.
Image Credit By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Chemical_Engineer" title="User:Chemical Engineer">Chemical Engineer</a> - <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0" title="Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61973875">Link</a>
566
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Petition created on 16 February 2021