THE MAIN University Library is set to open its doors 24 hours a day to allow student access throughout the night.
The John Rylands Library is going to trial round the clock opening hours during the main exam periods next academic year.
The move comes after sustained pressure from the Students' Union and continuous requests from students to extend opening hours.
Plans involve the library opening its doors throughout the night from the end of the Christmas holidays throughout the January exam period. The second stage of the trial will take place over the six-week summer exam session.
Normal service will be available until 11.30pm, with staff on hand to assist library users. After this time a 'skeleton service' will be in place, where students can study in the library and use the automated self-issue machines.
If the trial is successful, University management hopes to be able to open the library doors 24 hours a day on a permanent basis. This decision will be made next summer, after the second of the trials has been completed.
It has been Union policy since November 2004 to lobby the University for round-the-clock library access.
However, if implemented, it will not be until the later part of 2009, nearly five years since the Union started to campaign.
Jeff Meddemmen, Union Academic Affairs Officer, commented: "I think this move will have a profound positive effect on students' learning experience at Manchester.
"The shift this year by the University is down to a shift in tactics by the Students' Union, who now engage in rational debate at joint meeting with the University which has recently been paying dividends with this issue, and the Arthur Lewis building.
"The appointment of a new librarian who is happy to listen to students' opinion has also been a significant factor."
If opening times are permanently extended, The University of Manchester will be one of only a handful of university libraries that offer readers 24 hours access.
Katy Woolfenden, Head of Public Services at the library, said: "We are very keen to extend the service to meet the needs that students have expressed to us and to work with the students and the Students' Union to make this a success."
Woolfenden said that during the trial period library staff would monitor usage closely to ensure that permanent round the clock access was worthwhile.
She stressed that the library would be taking steps to listen to student feedback and ensure that security is stepped up so that library users felt safe at all times.
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