UW-Madison students could have another 24-hour library on campus if student government’s newest initiative goes as planned.
The Associated Students of Madison University Affairs Committee discussed Tuesday night a proposal to convert Steenbock Library into a 24-hour library available primarily to residents of the Lakeshore community.
Currently, College Library, located on the southeast side of campus, is the university’s only 24-hour library.
“Students have expressed a need for a second 24-hour campus library in the Lakeshore area, mostly because of safety concerns with walking home alone late at night, and also proximity to College Library,” said Carl Fergus, University Affairs chair.
Committee member Sam Seering is heading up the Library Initiative and will be presenting his proposal to Student Council in the upcoming weeks.
Since Steenbock Library is currently open until 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, the committee will have to convince the university to tack on an extra seven hours to bridge the overnight gap, Seering said.
“The next step will be to meet with the library and gauge the feasibility of actually doing this,” Fergus said. “We’ll have to look into staff costs, janitorial costs, and try to convince the university that this is a good idea that is worth the extra money.”
Also at Tuesday night’s meeting, the committee discussed plans to collaborate with the Center on Business and Poverty to hold tax and FAFSA form preparation sessions Feb. 28 through April 4.
According to committee member Zack Ivins, last year’s FAFSA week did not go as well as planned due to lack of advertising and student apathy.
“So many students on campus are eligible for financial aid on campus, but they don’t fill out the forms because it either takes too long or because they don’t think they will actually receive any aid,” Ivins said.
Since filling out tax forms goes hand-in-hand with FAFSA, the committee decided to offer hands-on informational sessions where students can get help filling out both sets of paperwork.
Financial aid is administered to students on a first-come first-serve basis, according to Ivins.
“The earlier we get our students to get their FAFSAs done, the more aid they are likely to receive,” Ivins said.
