Administrators have come up with what they call a temporary solution to student demands for a 24-hour study space.

The proposed study space will be Schneider Hall Room 107, and for the first time, will be open to students all night tonight.

A search for the new overnight study space began after the McIntyre Library changed from a 24-hour schedule to being open from 7 to 1 a.m. The changes were made because of budget cuts.

“(The study space) won’t cost us anything significantly,” vice chancellor Andy Soll said. “It will just require a little custodial attention.”

After regular classes end in the room, a custodian will check the room and make sure it’s ready for use as a study space. Then again, before classes the next morning, a custodian will review the room to make sure it’s ready for the day, Soll said.

Schnieder 107 is a typical classroom with 33 desks, a TV with VCR and an overhead projector. Next door to the room is the 24-hour Schneider general access computer lab.

The proximity of the new study hall to a computer lab is one of the primary factors that Soll and other administrators considered when selecting the room.

Other factors included security concerns for technology and students, he said.

“We had to do something quickly,” Soll said. “We needed a room that does not have a heavy compliment of classes in it so it would have less impact on classes.”

The room should be adequate to accommodate the number of students that are interested in the space, he said.

“It’s a good intermediate solution,” junior Zach Wedge said. “But a classroom isn’t the library.”

The biggest problem, Wedge said, is that the classroom has no large tables where students can spread out their study materials.

“It’s a very bad place for a permanent overnight study area,” Wedge said. “Look into something more user-friendly.”

Another downside to the study space is the complete lack of access to printed research materials.

“If I can’t get the magazines to do research, it doesn’t do me any good,” Wedge said.

Junior Emily Gilles, who used the library overnight before the hours were reduced, said she felt the new study space is inadequate to her needs.

Quiet study will be difficult in a classroom, she said. Small noises, like a squeaky chair, echo in a classroom. The library doesn’t have the same acoustic problems.

Gilles also added that if students need to do group work there won’t be enough space for them. If they are noisy, she said, it will disrupt the other students trying to study in the room.

As a science major, she said that she often needs access to scientific journals and computer programs that are only available in the library. She said writing her lab reports wouldn’t be possible in a classroom like Schneider 107.

Gilles said she will likely just go home to study and do her homework.

“It’s a good option to have for people who want to study there,” she said. “It’s a good option for people without computers.”

A long-term solution and the possibility of creating a different study space are still under consideration, Soll said.

“Students were interested in having something done quickly,” he said. “If this is a short or long term solution is yet to be seen.”