Unlike a few previous studies, Russell said, the upcoming pilot won't compare data with Newell Hall. It’s uncertain whether other parties are involved in the space’s funding. SG currently spends $147,000 a year to fund Newell Hall operations. SG leadership then became more opposed to allocating its budget to 24/7 libraries. While SG has heavily participated in funding 24/7 libraries since 2012, Russell said SG leadership reprioritized funding 24-hour services for Newell Hall in 2017 after securing $10 million from the state legislature for renovations. “If we have the flow of money coming in to pay for it, we're always willing to keep doing it,” Reakes said. The UF libraries department is always happy to provide students with 24-hour services, he said, but the funding to do so has never been available through its budget. Since the coronavirus pandemic, there have been debates over whether the funding of 24/7 library services should come from central university funds or the SG budget, Reakes said. “My personal belief is that the provost is more likely to participate in the funding if Student Government is also participating,” she said. She communicated SG's integral role in funding the initiative in the past to Student Body President Lauren Lemasters. Russell is unsure how the funding of a 24/7 Marston will continue if data collected through the upcoming pilot supports keeping the program long-term, she said. “We have never seen enough data to justify the expense of having two or more libraries open ,” she said. When asked about the possibility of other 24/7 libraries or study spaces reemerging, like Library West, Russell said data from a 2018 study conducted about Newell Hall found there were very few periods when traffic was high enough during the overnight hours to overwhelm the space. “When we expanded to doing 24/7, it was because Student Government came forward with the money to do it, and so it began as a student government-funded initiative,” she said. Dean of University Libraries Judith Russell, who has worked at UF since 2007, said 24/7 libraries haven’t historically been a part of UF and SG was first in leading the effort.
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