The new library was built last year. It was completed in August 2018, and now it is officially open, so many CBNU students are using the new library. However, CBNU students have complaints about it. Now, the new library is only operating from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Because of its short operating hours, many CBNU students have complaints about the new library.
  According to a survey about the new library by the Synergy Student Council, 95.9% of the respondents answered that the new library is the place they want to use most. Bae Min-joo (’19 Dept. of Urban Engineering) said, “I mainly use the old library. However, I like the new library, like everybody else. The new library’s chairs are soft, so I can sit for a long time without inconvenience. The new library has an open design that it is cleaner than the old library, so I prefer the new library to the old one.” She added, “Though the new library is good, I use the old one because the old one has longer hours. The closing time of the old library is midnight. During exam weeks, many students are up all night in that library. There are two study rooms on the old library’s first floor, but only one of the two is open. Because of this, the number of students who are admitted to the old library is minimal. If the closing time of the new library were to be extended to midnight, I think that this problem could be solved.”
  In the survey, 68.4% of respondents answered that the short operating hours of the new library were the most inconvenient thing . It is only operating from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., but 70.7% of the respondents in the survey answered that they use the old library a lot from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. It seems that many CBNU students have no choice but to use the old library because they can’t use the new one at certain times, so CBNU students want the operating hours of the new library to be extended.
  In the survey, 40.7% of the respondents suggested that the closing time of the new library should be 1 a.m., and 39.7% of them indicated that the closing time of the new library should be midnight. However, a CBNU library official said, “We can’t accept the students’ opinions due to management expenses and electricity bills.” The immediate 24-hour operation of the new library is too difficult, but the library officials are improving the operating system of the new library step by step to solve the students’ complaints. The original closing time of the new library was 6 p.m., but the current closing time was extended to 8 p.m. Also, it is not true that the new library always closes at 8 p.m. During exam weeks, its closing time is extended to 10 p.m.
  The Synergy Student Council, as well as the library officials, knows that CBNU students have complaints about the operating hours of the new library. To solve this problem, the Synergy Student Council conducted the survey and has been discussing the operating hours of the new library with the library officials repeatedly. Lee Gyeong-jun, the head of the Education Policy of the Synergy Student Council, said, “We have been continuously discussing the 24-hour operation of the new library with the library officials. We are going to discuss this problem again with the library officials after the library officials decide when they will start remodeling the old library in summer vacation. We gave many opinions   about how to improve the operating hours of the new library in the discussions, but it is a difficult problem. We can’t announce our detailed plan yet, but we have worked hard to solve the students’ complaints, and the operating hours of the new library might be extended. I apologize that our election pledge of the 24-hour library has slowed down, and I would appreciate a little patience from the students.” If the operating hours of the new library are extended through the detailed discussions, I hope that CBNU students will use the new library more freely and comfortably.

By Ahn Min-joo l jm40@cbnu.ac.kr
By Lee Dong-ah l da39@cbnu.ac.kr