UB planning on extra controls to enforce corona measures
UB planning on extra controls to enforce corona measures
Door Remco van Veluwen
By Remco van Veluwen
Students who don’t wear a face mask, groups of students taking a break together in the hallway or on the stairs, friends who stop by each other’s desks (with or without face masks on), or people who have never heard of social distancing. Everyone should be familiar with the corona measures at the UB by now, but not all students adhere to them as faithfully as they should.
Policing
Spend a few days in the UB, and you’ll see it happen with your own eyes. Some people report the behaviour online, says UB spokesperson Babette Knauer. According to her, however, it’s not that big of an issue. ‘It appears to be a minority; approximately one in twenty students. The majority obey the rules as they should.’
Whenever someone does enter the building without a face mask, the concierges politely ask them to put one on or exit the building. ‘It rarely happens that students refuse’, says Knauer. So far, no one has been denied entrance to the library.
Nevertheless, the UB is brainstorming ways the staff can keep a closer eye on whether students are obeying the rules. Right now, only people entering the building are being monitored. ‘We still have to discuss how we’re going to do it, but we’re definitely planning on extra controls. It’s possible the concierges will increase their rounds through the building. But we won’t be policing everyone’s behaviour. We want to make sure this is a nice place to study.’
Reservations
In order to ensure that as many students as possible can make use of the UB given the current restrictions, they can reserve a maximum of four time slots. However, the system that’s used for reservations allows for as many slots as you want, which means some students spend more time at the library than they should. During the exam period, students had to fight to get a reservation.
‘It’s hard to monitor that’, says Knauer. ‘The concierges know when someone is coming in too often and ask them to stop, just to give other students a chance to get a spot.’
The current pilot involving the fourth floor, where students can reserve desks with more flexibility, provides a better overview of how many times a single student reserves a spot, Knauer says. The system will soon be implemented for the other floors, as well.