Kochi: Scholars at Cusat (Cochin University of Science and Technology) who burn the midnight oil can avail library facilities round-the-clock.
The university authorities are finally heeding the demand of the student community to extend library timings into late night hours, the first university in the sate to do so. At present, the library is open from 9 am to 8 pm only.
“The functioning of the ‘students lounge’ facility in the library will be soon extended till 10 pm on an experimental basis. If found successful, we’ll consider functioning of the facility round the clock by introducing three shifts,” university librarian-in-charge Dr C. Beena told DC.
The students lounge is a separate air-conditioned facility in the library where students can bring books and study materials from outside and engage in discussions. They will be provided with free Wi-Fi connectivity.
“The facility, introduced for the first time in a university in the state, is aimed at encouraging online and open learning among students. The extension of the timings will help the students staying at hostels,” the official said.
The students will also be able to access the nearly 13,000 scholarly journals online across a various subjects which the university has bought the rights for a whopping Rs 2 crore.
“We’ll set up proper lighting and CCTV on the library premise and deploy a watchman,” the official said.
The CUSAT library, which bagged Information and Library Network national award, has facilities like audio-visual research centre, Skype lab, language lab and teleconferencing among others.
