The first floor of Kinsella Hall Library and the 1937 Reading Room will remain open during the upcoming Christmas break.
The library and reading room’s opening hours will be 10am to 6pm on December 27 to 30, and January 2 and 3.
This was announced in an update from John Coman, Secretary to College, Orla Cunningham, Interim Chief Operating Officer, and Dr David McGrath, Director of College Health Service to staff and students.
The statement said these measures were for “this year only, as an extraordinary exception, given that some students may be unable to travel home for the holiday season due to the ongoing pandemic and some Junior Fresh and Scholar examinations are taking place in January”.
Services provided during this period are limited to stewarding, security and essential cleaning.
The stewards will be graduate students, and emergency procedures “will be agreed with Library staff in advance”.
Campus Security control room will be staffed as normal and “mobile patrols will be in operation”.
From December 20 to 23, libraries will operate “shorter, ‘out of term’ hours in the week running into the Christmas closure period”.
The Berkeley/Lecky/Ussher (BLU), Hamilton and John Stearne Medical libraries will close at 5pm. Kinsella Hall and 1937 Reading Room will close at 10pm.
All libraries, the 1937 Reading Room, computer rooms and Trinity Halls Junior Common Room (JCR) spaces will reopen and follow normal term-time opening hours from January 4.
Current stewarding procedure will be reviewed on January 21 to “help College staff and students safely navigate through a period of heightened assignment activity, Junior Fresh and Scholar examination”.
