While there are plenty of 24-hour coffee shops to study or work at in cities around the country, not everyone, especially not college students, can afford to spend on expensive coffee every time they need a place to study late at night.
No one knows this better than fourth year electronics engineering student Mitch Roland of Cebu City, who commented on her mayor’s Facebook page earlier this week that she wished the public library was open 24 hours.
“I’m hoping and praying that you consider having the public library open for 24/7 for us students who really need to study in a library setting,” Roldan said in her comment on Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s Facebook page.
The mayor, who has over 500,000 followers on his page, replied with a brief comment, “ok! Give me a week.”
Osmeña posted the comment on his Facebook page and surveyed his followers if others were having the same struggles as Roldan, to which many said yes.
The Rizal Memorial Library (Cebu City Public Library) is the only public library not affiliated with a university in Cebu, a city of almost 1 million people.
Netizen Kitkat Villareal said “a big resounding YES for this.” She explained in a mix of Cebuano and English: “Better for students [at the library], than hanging out in McDonald’s or coffee shops. And I hope they can borrow books. I would gladly donate some of my books at home. We need to get our kids back to reading.”
McDonald’s is exactly where Roldan usually studies, she told Coconuts Manila in an interview on messenger.
She said in Cebuano: “I usually study at McDonald’s at Escario blvd. because the coffee there is only PHP49 (about US$.99).”
While it sounds cheap, Roldan, a 4th year electronics engineering student at the Cebu Institute of Technology, said her studies keep her on a tight budget and that it can get expensive because she ends up ordering every hour to not feel bad about hanging around the fast food joint for too long.
She said that when she made the comment on Osmeña’s page, she had no idea that he would actually follow up on it. “I only commented because we just finished our mock board (exams) and the struggle is real,” she said.
On Tuesday, Osmeña who is known to be active on social media, engaging in comments and even giving out his personal cell phone number on Facebook, updated the public and said that preparations were already being made to open the library for 24 hours.
“The air conditioners are being upgraded, additional staff and guards being hired, CCTV installed, and WiFi routers are on their way,” he said on Tuesday.
While Osmeña initially thought they would only be able to extend by a few hours tomorrow, he said in a post earlier today that they will already be able to make the library operational 24/7.
“The additional aircon needed to handle extra people will be running in 2 days. WiFi will be up in a week. Outlets to charge your computers will also be installed on the second floors,” he said.
In addition, a small coffee shop was set up inside and a snack bar outside the library.
Osmeña said in a text message with Coconuts Manila that there will be no extra charges to the public for keeping the library open. He said while it will be open to the general public, students will be given priority.
For Roldan, she said that while she didn’t think that anything would be done about her request, she learned the importance of engaging with local leaders and representatives, even if only through social media.
“I think the prime movers of this country are really us. If you want to make a change, it’s up to no one else but us,” she said. “Just look, all I did was comment and it made a difference. We can use social media for change,” she said.
