Editor’s note: Express Yourself pieces are the author’s opinion alone.

Many students have complained about the lack of hours that Founder’s Memorial Library (FML) provides students during the academic school year. On Friday and Saturday, FML closes at 5 p.m. as opposed to the usual midnight. While NIU has a high commuter population, students do not magically disappear over the weekend. These students still need a place to study or use services such as printing, public computers or check out resources. 

My hypothesis was that because there is no productive outlet given by NIU on weekend nights, it may be a factor in crime. Then, theoretically, if NIU were to increase library hours on weekends, there may be a reduction in crime.

To start, I found a study on how public libraries can affect crime rates in their immediate vicinity. The paper from 2021 found that opportunity-based crimes such as assault, robbery/burglary and vandalism were reduced near libraries. However other crimes such as sexual assault, murder and DUI’s were not.

There was an increase in these opportunity-based crimes in 2023 at NIU. The City of DeKalb reports 1,096 simple assault cases along with 876 thefts and 90 burglaries in 2023 .

Furthermore, there are potentially numerous unresearched benefits that may come from extending library times. It may help student performance or graduation rates, particularly for students with Pell grants. Reportedly, 62% of students without Pell grants graduate but only 38% with Pell grants graduate, both within six years. Maybe these students need access to resources past 5 p.m. on the weekend.

All in all, by decreasing crime rates and improving student performance, it might be profitable for NIU to try and reverse the trend that has shown a 25% decrease in enrollment in the past 10 years.