Fisher Library opening hours a reminder of stingy, uncaring management

Fabian Robertson opines.

USyd management’s reduction of Fisher Library’s opening hours post lockdown is a wonderful reminder that the suits who run our university will do anything to cut costs, even at the detriment of students’ ability to study.

Yesterday, we all received an email from Mark Scott announcing Fisher Library’s opening hours had been updated to 9am to midnight. Although an improvement from the previous arrangement, the updated timeframe is still nine hours short of Fisher’s typical 24/7 operation.

Scott’s email framed the change in the context of USyd’s return to normality amidst rising vaccination rates, as if restricting library access is a necessary COVID-safety measure. This is utter bullshit. There is no rational connection between closing the library at night and protecting students; we don’t suddenly become more susceptible to contracting COVID-19 once the clock strikes midnight.

The simple truth is that limited hours mean limited costs: less spent on security guard wages, lighting, air conditioning and cleaners. Like everything else management does, the restriction of library access is motivated purely by the desire to save money, ostensibly in the wake of reduced earnings from a decline in international student enrolments.

If nothing else, the cutting of Fisher’s hours is a timely reminder that our University is run by a bunch of corporate parasites who don’t give a shit about students, and will do anything to cut costs if it doesn’t harm their public image. In the lead up to the exam period, adequate library access seems an absolute minimum requirement for students paying thousands of dollars every year.

As a fellow student observed, it’s quite ironic that USyd students are allowed to go clubbing but aren’t allowed to study at their own library at night. Perhaps if Fisher started charging a $20 entry fee, USyd management would actually let us in.  

According to the library website, Fisher will return to 24/7 operations on 24 December, just in time for the intense study period that is the Christmas holidays!