Tae-Joon Park Digital Library (Cheong-Am Library) announced changed service hours on Jul. 30-31. There are some alterations to the service hours of the 5th and 6th floors. With regard to the 5th floor reading room, except for Group Study Room (GSR) 514, 523, service hour is altered from 24 hours (during the semester and vacation) to 24 hours during the semester, but 08:00 ~ 24:00 during vacation. The service hour of the 6th floor (Cyber Cafeteria) is changed from 24 hours to 08:00~24:00 (during the semester, not exam period), 08:00~02:00 (during semester, exam period), and 08:00~22:00 (during vacation).
It has attracted a lot of intention of postechians because the library is one of the most important places for students’ study. The Postech Times covered the decision process of the changed bill, interviewed the Office of Academic Information Affairs, and collected opinions of the Undergraduate Association and postechians.
The Office of Academic Information Affairs decided this issue from the following data; the number of users of the 5th floor reading room by time (investigation period: 2011.01.01-2012.11.30), the number of users of the library by time (2011.12.1-2012.11.30), the number of users of GSR by time (2011.12.1-2012.11.30), the number of users of the library at night time during vacation (2013.01.07-2013.01.18), and the number of users of the library at 00:30 (2013.03.01-2013.03.25). According to this data, ten or fewer students use the 5th floor reading room after 24:00 during the vacation. The director of the library explained that the number of users definitely decreases during vacation and very few people use the library after 24:00.
Meanwhile, POSTECH determined beforehand this issue at the meeting of directors of related administrative units on Apr. 1. However, they postponed the announcement for 3 months, and the office of the library finally posted the changed bill on the library website on Jul. 30. The Undergraduate Association strongly disapproved because of the symbolic  meaning attached to a twenty-four hour library. A library that is always open symbolizes a university committed to serving and encouraging students’ education  at any time. They also criticized the delay of the notice. The library just stated “We announced it lately because the issue has effect since the vacation. If the problem emerges, we will revise it.”
To hear students’ opinions, The Postech Times conducted a survey of undergraduate and graduate students. In total, 138 students responded. In the survey, only twenty students concured with the change of service hours of the 6th Cyber Cafeteria, and twenty-one students concured with that of the 5th floor reading room. However, the majority of students disapproved of this issue because of the inexact exam period. Students frequently study after midnight, rest, debate about team project, or eat some food in the Cyber Cafeteria. In addition, almost all students (133 out of 138) think that this issue was decided without collecting enough opinions from Postechians.
The library should be prepared to modify the schedule and the decision-making process to reflect students’ opinions. Also, POSTECH should find a balance between energy conservation and students’ welfare.