Door always open at the University's Information Common

Friday 19 May 2006

Students at the University of Newcastle can now spend their entire weekend accessing the facilities and services of the Auchmuty Library Information Common thanks to extended opening hours.

The Information Common is home to over 100 PCs, printing and photocopying facilities, multimedia peripherals such as scanners and webcams, and is a laptop friendly wireless environment.

In response to increased student demand, the Information Common in the Auchmuty Library will remain open past the original closing time of 10pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

University Librarian Greg Anderson says this means that the doors to the Information Common will never close, providing students with 24/7 access.

"The Information Common brings together electronic library resources, computer hardware and software, and media production facilities in a relaxed and supportive collaborative learning environment," says Greg.

"It has been extremely popular with students and staff since opening in late 2003, providing 24 hour access to a state of the art learning facility from Monday morning to Friday evening. The extension of hours over the weekend will be well received as we have been running at full capacity at closing time on Saturday and Sunday nights.

"Thanks to the new hours, students will be able to continue working and using the resources in the Information Common.

"The ability of the Information Common to be readily secured from the rest of the Auchmuty Library means that when the Library closes, students have the opportunity to relocate to the Information Common if they wish to continue working."

The Library's Information Desk is located in the Information Common along with various configurations of computer terminals, the Bytes Café, casual seating, a training lab, Express Terminals and a Ready Reference Collection.

The extended hours for the Information Common will begin on Friday 19 May 2006.

For interviews: University Librarian Greg Anderson on (02) 4921 6465