The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) executive branch is currently working with library officials to set up a study area and tutoring program during finals week although its original platform goal of extended library hours will not be implemented this semester.

USG Vice President Takkeem Morgan said the goal is to create a "study hall session," during which tutors and refreshments would be available.

He said the plan includes a quiet area for individual study and a space for group work. USG members would be willing to monitor the areas, Morgan added.

"The goal is to encourage students to engage in quality studying," Morgan said. "We have a habit of last-minute studying. We want to give students an incentive to practice good study habits."

Morgan said he wants more students to utilize library facilities.

"If more students are studying in the library, there would be less of a reason to close it," he said. "If there is a need and a demand, obviously there will be a need to adjust their hours."

Sally Kalin, University Park libraries associate dean, said although USG's original plan of extending library hours in the humanities reading room is not feasible or necessary, she is happy to work with USG to address student issues.

"During finals, we do have heavier business, and that is a time that we can do some different things," she said.

Kalin added she plans to talk with food services to provide additional spaces for refreshments in the library during finals.

She said extending hours in the humanities reading room in Paterno Library was not feasible because of safety concerns.

Kalin said the area could not be closed off from other areas of the building to prevent students from roaming around during a time when security is limited. Students would not have access to restrooms or a computer lab, she added.

The library currently offers extended hours Sunday through Thursday until 2 a.m. on the ground and first floors on Pattee Library's west side.

Kalin said the building was designed so the two floors could be secured during extended hours.

"When we were raising money for renovations, the senior class [of 1994] gave us money to provide an extended hours area in a portion of the building," Kalin said. "The architects had to find an area we could secure off."

USG President Ian Rosenberger said that he wants to use finals week as a trial run of their original platform goal to prove to library officials that students can use the reading room safely.

"It's a move on our part to show them that we can keep that room open and that students can run it and keep it secure," Rosenberger said. "This is a victory."

Kalin said that the entire library is open during finals week until 2 a.m., but additional hours are not necessary at other times throughout the semester.

"We don't have that many people between 12 and 2 a.m.," she said. "By the time we close, only a handful of people are here."

Kalin said the Pollock laptop library, which is open 24 hours, seven days a week, gets "tremendous" use.