Welcome to the Library That Never Sleeps

By: Dalia Abdelwahab

@Lia_A0617

The AUC library is where students can often seek refuge from noisier parts of the university and find a quiet atmosphere to study or relax. But students often take things too far and resign to napping.

“I have definitely slept in the library more than once, in both the quiet and silent floors. The lack of noise, combined with the good air conditioning, can really sedate you when tired,” said Aliaa Mohamed, an undeclared freshman, who added that she frequently prefers to study there than at home.

For many like Mohamed, the Student Union’s (SU) Facebook announcement about the administration deciding to keep the library open 24 hours a day should come as good news.

However, this was later followed by what students claimed was a ‘ban on sleeping’.

According to the library’s recent ‘24 Hour Access Policy’ on their official website, “sleeping (not including incidental napping which is allowed) for an extended period of time, lying down, sleeping on a couch, floor or other surface, excessive use of seating or space that interferes with priority usage, is not allowed in the library for safety and security reasons.”

The Caravan staff visited the library on October 16, going from floor to floor, and found several students sleeping peacefully and undisturbed.

Dean of Libraries and Learning Technologies, Lamiaa Eid said that the new policies have been misinterpreted and misunderstood.

“We need to distinguish between incidental napping on the desks, which is permitted, and lying down and sleeping on the couches or floor, which is not allowed,” she told The Caravan.

Eid added that librarians are not medical professionals who would be able to distinguish between people who are asleep on couches or the floor, and people who have fainted or require medical assistance, for instance.

“It is visually impossible to identify whether this is sleeping or a serious medical condition,” she said.

She added that sleeping on the floor and couches is an inconvenience for disabled students using the library.

Music Technology senior Ahmed Badr believes that although the policy is uncalled for, he appreciates the reasoning behind it.

“Sleeping on the tables or the floors could disrupt passersby and users from using the table[s],” he commented.

Badr added that he supports the implementation of the library’s policies around any of the areas where computers are installed for the convenience of other people who may wish to use them to study, print out academic material or otherwise.

“The university claims that this is to mitigate any sort of disturbance and distractions in the library – that’s their reasoning,” Yehia Shaheen, the SU’s general manager for advocacy and policies, told The Caravan.

Shaheen added that the SU is currently in talks with some members of the administration to discuss ways to accommodate students and satisfy library policies.

But some students, like Mechanical Engineering senior Sirag El Sheikh, disagree.

El Sheikh said he has never heard of any problems as a result of someone sleeping at the library.

“If there were incidents of theft or something, then I blame the person for not taking care of their stuff and then we can try [to] look for it. But, other than that, I cannot imagine why [create] such a random ban,” El Sheikh told The Caravan.

It all boils down to risk and safety issues.

“Our target is to provide a safe space for our patrons. One of the criteria for a safe space is that no one is at risk,” Eid said.