I was perturbed when I realized that Student Senate members were going around campus the two past weeks getting signatures for a petition to open the library the Sunday during exam week. This petition would have a negative effect on one particular student population: the library student workers. Students like me.

To give an overview, this is how the library is run from a student worker’s perspective. The Hekman library is open from 7:30 a.m. to midnight on Monday through Thursday, from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Friday and from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Saturday. That is a total of 89.5 hours per week. The library serves not only Calvin College, but also the Calvin Seminary. It is opened and closed by student workers every day, Monday through Saturday. Every time a book is requested, loaned, processed, catalogued, returned or re-shelved, that process involves a student worker, someone who is trained to carry out those tasks. If it is not a weekday between the hours of 9-5, when the full time librarians are working, the student workers are completely in charge of the library, again a task that they are trained for. If the library is open, there is at least two students workers there making its services available to the student body whether or not anybody is checking out books.

Exam time is the busiest time of the semester in the library. It is so busy that student staffing is increased by 50% on the weekends to adjust for the increased workload. The library is also open extra hours already the two weeks before exam week and exam week itself to accommodate extra studying time for students. The library opens at the regular 7:30 a.m. time, but remains open as late as 2 a.m. during exams.

I have been a student worker in the library since my first year. I am now a fifth year senior. In other words, I know the student life but I also know the library life. I enjoy my job, I enjoy helping people use the library as resource and I enjoy talking to different people every day. But my work as a student comes first. That is why I am at Calvin in the first place: to study. I am studying Engineering among other things; I understand what it means to study and to have to study hard. In the midst of all that work, I also happen to take a Sabbath rest every Sunday. To be honest, taking that day of rest is how I survive.

When I hear that the library should be opened on Sundays, I know that in order for that to happen there needs to be two student workers present from the time the library opens to when library the closes. Those students would be working, not studying. They would need be current employees who are trained for such a position and have up to date knowledge on how the library is run. They would also need to be paid, something that is not easy given the current financial situation. Those students are already required to work a certain amount of hours on Friday evenings and Saturdays throughout the semester, and a certain amount during exam week. They are also students just like the rest of the student body, trying to balance work and studying.

I want the student body to realize that when they are asking for the library to be open on a Sunday, they are asking other students to give up their Sabbath rest or day off. They are asking for students to work a seventh day of the week, unlike in the dining halls (which are open only six days a week). They are asking for other students to give up time at their churches and church families when students need it most, living away from home (many of the student workers in the library are international students or out of state). And if the library would be open on Sundays during exam time, then the student body is asking if they can make an already stressful time of the semester even more stressful for the student workers. They would also be asking students to work on a Sunday so that they can forego the studying spaces they have been using all semester in favor of the library space that is already been made widely available to them.

Out of respect for the library workers, I ask that students please prioritize their need for the library to the other six days of the week and do not open the library on Sunday during exam week. Or consider opening a space that does not require students to work additional hours, particularly during exam week.