John Jay College’s Lloyd Sealy Library is extending its Library Lab hours from 8:30 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. from December 9 – December 19 to support students during finals.

The library will be open for its first time on Sunday since the COVID-19 pandemic. In the library’s computer lab, students have access to desktop computers, printers, and scanners. On Sunday, the library will be open from 12 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. 

Access to the upper level, reserve services, bookshelves and the circulation desk will be available. The computer lab will remain open until 11:45 p.m. 

Ellen Sexton, Chief Librarian at John Jay, commented on the library operating on Sunday for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is the first Sunday we’ve been open since before COVID, the whole library. It’s an experiment we’re going to see if people come in. If they do, we’ll do it again,” said Sexton.

For many students, the library’s extended hours provide comfort and a space to work without distractions during finals week. 

Kendice Marshall, a transfer student majoring in Political Science commented that she does not have a laptop and that the extended library hours have been helpful. 

“I have an iPad, but I don’t have a laptop. It’s very useful and very important,” she said. “I live in a household where I absolutely have no space. I’ll have not only room, but time to study; otherwise I would have been sitting up on my bed in the corner of the room trying to get my work done with no table,” said Marshall.

Marshall also expressed her desire to have similar access to the library semester round. 

“I had a Saturday class; I would come here on Saturdays, it would open at 12 p.m. and it would close at 4 p.m. That’s not a really long time for someone to come and work here,” said Marshall. 

Students also expressed how the library’s extended hours is an important factor in their ability to get their work done. 

Arleen Balderas, a junior majoring in Cell & Molecular Biology commented on how the quiet environment of the library helps her focus.

“It keeps me from my distractions;” said “I just pay more attention to my homework,” she said. “At home there’s more things that I need to do family wise. Here I can just focus on my homework and all of the stuff I need to do,” said Balderas.

Disayra Then, a Forensic Accounting certificate student, said she has an outdated laptop and the library’s availability is crucial to getting her work done.

“The laptop I own is from the 90s; the software that they [the computers] have, like Excel and Tableau, is something I need, so I have to come to the library,” she said. “These hours are extremely helpful because I would be home not able to do my homework at all,” said Then.

Students have also expressed that they would benefit from extended hours throughout the entire semester. 

“I would use it because I work full time, so I get out after 5, 6, or 7 p.m. There was one time I wanted to stay longer and I couldn’t because the library was closing,” said Then. 

Sexton says that since the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of people who need the library isn’t what it was before. The library has struggled to regain its pre-pandemic numbers, with gate counts dropping from a record 375,054 in 2019 to just 178,487 in 2024, less than half of what it was. 

“If students were to ask us to open on Sunday, and actually come in on Sunday, then we would provide the service,” said Sexton. 

Sexton continued to stress the importance of student success at John Jay.

“John Jay wouldn’t exist without student success. It’s an intrinsic part of the existence of John Jay,” she said. “It’s very important to us as faculty and to me personally. Whenever we’re making decisions about our resources, supporting students is a very important part of that decision,” said Sexton. 

Sexton encourages student feedback on how the library can be improved. 

“We need to hear what people are not happy with, cause otherwise we think everything is perfect and why would you change anything?” she said. “I do like hearing people’s experiences and what they think we should be doing,” said Sexton. 

For any concerns the library’s website offers email contact information and she encourages its usage.