Library room bookings

Q. I have a concern about the library group study room booking rules. It seems like room number 2004 of Bennett library is booked by the same group of students (probably a group tutoring class) everyday from 10 am - 7 pm. I tried to book room 2004 today and found out that the same group of students booked it for two weeks. I personally think that certain students monopolizing the library facility is unfair. It would be better if the library can limit the group study room booking rule to: 1 booking per week (instead of 1 booking per day). If it is not possible, could you please check if anyone in the booked room is violating library rules (e.g. Group Study Rooms are for current SFU students ONLY; Scripted or automated bookings are prohibited; and providing your SFU username and password to other parties to book rooms on your behalf is a violation of SFU's policy GP-24 on Fair Use of Information and Communications Technology)?

A. We completely understand your frustration about not being able to book study room 2004 in the Bennett Library. Even though we enforce the 2-hour/once per day booking limit for individual users within the online booking system itself, we have no technological means of determining if students belong to the same study group. The only way for us to check whether the same group has repeatedly booked a room is for a library staff member to visit the study room when the current booking ends and ensure everyone leaves. But even then, we have found that some groups wait around for a few minutes and then reclaim the room.

Scott Mackenzie, Head of Access Services, and his staff have received feedback on this issue in the past. He has offered for someone to walk by room 2004 later to see if they think the same group of people are monopolizing the room and to remind them of the policy, but the Library does not have sufficient staff to police the study rooms on a constant basis. I will bring this issue forward to our Library administration.

Mark Jordan
Head of Library Systems