By Ashley Schaerfl
The stacks in the library are filled with books that students can use and check out.
Colorado State University-Pueblo has an abundance of resources for students to use on campus. Students have the Career Center to get help with a resume and applying for jobs. The Writing Center is where students can take essays and semester papers to be review and edited by peers. What might be overlooked, however, is the Library Academic Resource Center. The one thing that many students may not know is the hours of the LARC.
The LARC is a place where students can check out books, laptops and even use the computers and printers throughout the LARC. With over 350,000 books and government documents, 8,000 CDs, DVDs and videocassettes in the building and access to over 100,000 print and online journals, 100 online databases and the University Archives and Special Collections, the LARC has resources for students in any degree field get the most out of their education.
Students are lucky that LARC they can not only utilize it during the day, but also late into the night. It is open to all students and faculty to use from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. Sundays. This is an improvement to last year’s hours that ended at 10 p.m. most nights, and is later than library hours at most universities in Colorado.
Colorado University Boulder and University of Colorado Colorado Springs are only open an hour later than CSU-Pueblo, and both UCCS and CU open 45 minutes later than the LARC. “The building was designed so that at some future point, the first floor could be available extended hours,” Rhonda Gonzales, dean of library services, said. “The elevators and stairwells can be locked so that students cannot go past the first floor.”
According to Gonzales, this could happen in the future. “First, we would need to hire a security guard for the first floor, or have an alternate plan for security such as security cameras that are monitored,” Gonzales said. “Currently, we do not have cameras and we do not have the budget to hire a security guard for extended hours. Secondly, if we were able to arrange for security, physical plant would have to program the door lock system to allow student ids access to the identified doors during those hours. This is possible to do, but would require planning with physical plant staff.”
Security would be mandatory to ensure that university equipment remains safe and able for all students. One such item is the 3-D printer, which is available to any CSU-Pueblo student after training from the LARC staff. “Any student can use the 3-D printer,” Sandy Hudock, professor of library services and director of education, research and outreach services, said. “Students just need to upload it in a specific way.”
With fall semester starting, students may need help with research or how to properly search for scholarly journals. “We have so many ways for students to get their research done and properly,” Hudock said. “We do research workshops. We come into classes and do instructions for those classes, and students can always ask.”
