By Amena Anderson

Procrastinators have another lifeline.

Starting after fall break, the library will be open until midnight Monday through Thursday. The library currently closes at 10:30 p.m.

Keeping with the school’s “best year yet” theme, Library Director Fred Sweet said Miller Library wants to do its part.

Sweet said the library will make the change to meet student needs and stay student focused — but with the change came budgetary challenges.

“[It] takes an extra $2,400 for this year to do this,” Sweet said.

Sweet said the extra money is needed to hire more student workers for the extended hours, but the library doesn’t have any authority to increase its budget.

Fortunately, the expenses for this year will be paid through the CU undergraduate program, and the CU Professional & Graduate Studies program, Sweet said.

Provost Rick Ostrander said funds had to be found elsewhere this year because the change came after the university’s budget was set. The budget is usually set a year in advance.

If the extended hours are a success, Ostrander said CU will “plan ahead and put [additional library funds] in our operating budget for next year.”

Ostrander said his office is providing the undergraduate portion of the funding because the later library hours “seemed like something that would be helpful for students,” and “was worth putting money into.”

Sophomore Sarah Westveer will be one of the student workers working the night shift for circulation after the library hours change.

The learning disabilities major isn’t unfamiliar with working a midnight shift. During the summer, Westveer worked at Arby’s, a restaurant that closes as late as 2 a.m.

“I hope that people really take advantage of it,” Westveer said about the new library hours. “I would love to see it really busy with people. I would hate to see only a couple of people here for the midnight hours.”

Later library hours would have helped sophomore Ashley Bliss out last year when she had to finish a project.

It was about 11 p.m. at night when Bliss realized she needed a Bible dictionary of Paul and his letters to complete her exegetical project for a Biblical Hermeneutics class. The project was due the next day for the psychology and family studies major, but Bliss couldn’t finish because the library had already closed. Bliss had to turn her project in late.

Because of that experience, Bliss thinks extended hours will be beneficial to students.

“I think it will be really useful, especially if people are busy during the day,” Bliss said. “They can come late at night and get work done.”

Junior Rebekah McNay had a spontaneous thought last year to grab some visual aids from the Curriculum Materials Center upstairs in the library. She wanted to add to her lesson plan as an elementary education major but couldn’t because her thought came after library hours.

McNay said she comes to the library three times a week to study and usually stays until closing. She said the new library hours will definitely work with her study habits.

“It will be more convenient,” McNay said. “I am up that late anyways studying, so it’s nice to be in a quiet place.”

Sweet said that the extended hours are only for this year. He said the library will “reassess [the changes] at the end of the year.”

“[If the change] proves to be popular at all, we will reconsider it,” Sweet added.