Does Paley Library Actually Get Cleaned?

How often does housekeeping clean the guest computer area? The desktops are dirty and people don’t throw their trash away when they leave.

 Although this question is more specific to the “guest computer area” in Tuttleman opposite the Paley Circulation/Reserve Desk, it is worthwhile to share some general information about the frequency of housekeeping services for Paley Library. Although at peak times of operation it may seem like Paley isn’t being cleaned regularly, the answer to the question is YES. Paley Library, like most Temple buildings, has a regular, daily cleaning schedule. A crew is assigned to clean up the Library every evening, even on the weekends. This is true of Tuttleman as well.

During the day hours, especially on the weekends, the degree of housekeeping service is much more limited. For one thing, it would be extremely difficult to clean the furniture surfaces, floors, empty trash, etc. when the library can be quite packed with people using the resources. There are skeleton crews that work their way through different buildings to tackle any challenging mess. So depending on what time you arrive at the library, the degree of traffic in the building that day, and yes – whether the people who use the library make an effort to remove their trash – can impact on the state of cleanliness you will discover.

Unfortunately, while we wish every person using our Libraries would remember to dispose of their trash in the right place, you are likely to encounter a mess left by someone else from timt to time. Given the amount of mess created in Paley every day, we really appreciate the great job our housekeeing staff does to keep things clean here.

Let’s Keep Paley Library Open 24/7

I would like to say that I have had great experiences at the library. There is one thing that I would like to suggest though. Currently I am at the TECH center studying because the library is now closed. The noise level here does not allow me to study and focus very well. I would like to suggest to the library and university personnel that the library stay open either later or also 24 hours as it would be a great be a great benefit to those students that focus best in a quiet atmosphere. Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to your response and what can be done in this matter.

We are pleased to know that you would describe your experience with Paley Library as “great”. Thanks for sharing that with us. We take the experience you and all the other members of the Temple community have at our libraries seriously, and we are always open to ideas for improvoing that experience. Requests for additional hours is a suggestion we do get from our user community from time to time. If the library offers a great experience, why not make that experience available for even more hours.

The library administration has discussed whether keeping the Paley Library open 24 hours every day or even five days is feasible. Adding more hours is primarily a budgetary matter. Not only would we need to keep Paley open, but Tuttleman as well, since that is the location of the circulation desk. Currently the Paley Library (including the Tuttleman service desk) is open 118 hours a week (Note: Our official opening hour M-F is 8 am, but we unofficially open the doors to students at 7 am). You can imagine the added cost of keeping the buildings open plus the added staff needed for the additional hours (50 of them).

Still, we understand the value of being open to students around the clock. If the University was to move ahead with plans to build a new library facility it is likely you would find a 24/7 or 24/5 section of the building. This allows for a smaller space for those students who are seeking a quiet study area at all hours of the night. We recently received a report compiled by another research library that collected data about the number of large research libraries that are open 24/7 (the Association of Research Libraries includes 113 of the largest research libraries in North America). Of the 66 libraries that responded only 6 reported being open 24/7. Another 17 reported being open 24/5 (same as the TECH Center). Another 24 reported being open 24/7 or 24/5 – but these libraries did have a separate facility or section of the main library dedicated to 24/7 or 24/5 hours.Another 13 libraries, like Paley, were open 24/7 only during finals. Yes, for an approximate 12-day period during reading week and finals Paley Library will remain open 24/7.

We will continue to monitor the usage of Paley Library to see what the late night hours traffic is like (currently – quite light).  We will also consider the number of students requesting additional hours (currently – rare). We do appreciate your suggestion and use of Paley Library. Thank you.