By Kelli Long and Travis Walker

Beginning Oct. 19, W.T. Young Library will extend its hours to be open 24 hours Sunday through Thursday, closing at 8 p.m. Friday and open Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The revised hours come in response to an outcry from students after state budget cuts forced the library to cut back on its hours.

The deal was reached after Student Government President Tyler Montell met with Provost Kumble Subaswammy on Sept. 25 and then again on Tuesday to finalize plans for the new hours.

Montell and the provost decided to hold a forum about the library’s hours Monday, “before it got too far into the semester,” Montell said.

Student Government Vice President Grant Mills also met with Dean of Libraries Carol Diedrichs to help come up with the revised plan.

SG is giving the library $10,000 to help with the funding problem. Part of that money will come from the executive cabinet and the rest will hopefully come from the Senate, Montell said. The exact deductions from each cabinet are not finalized. The only problem they are now facing is staffing the extra hours, he said.

Students United for Campus Climate Enrichment and Student Success, a group formed on the recommendation of the provost, announced in an e-mail sent on Monday that it would host a forum Wednesday night for students to voice their opinions on the library hours, but the new hours had already officially been determined before the forum.

“We decided to hold the forum last week when we heard that students were planning a sit-in,” said Patrick Nally, one of the SUCCESS representatives and spokesperson for the group. “We were trying our best to avoid a student sit-in and go about the process democratically.”

While people waited for the SUCCESS forum to begin, Christin Lang, an integrated strategic communications junior, arrived with the news that SG and the UK administration had come to an agreement about the library’s closing time.

SUCCESS held the forum anyway to discuss students’ reactions to the new hours. Most seemed satisfied that the conflict surrounding the library was coming to a close.

“It is kind of unfair to students coming out tonight (Wednesday) because they were a few days late,” Nally said.

According to Montell, the purpose of the SUCCESS forum was not to find a solution, but to hear different ideas.

“SUCCESS had the forum to give students an opportunity to connect with an issue,” Montell said. “This is an opportunity for students who have never had an opportunity for their voice to be heard and to speak out to student leaders. I think it is a great idea.”

The official announcement of the new library hours will appear on the UK Web site Thursday morning.