The HUFS Student Council on the Seoul Campus has held talks with school authorities, clinching agreements including the 24-hour operation of reading rooms in the school’s library during exam periods as part of improving its studying environment, it said.

 During the Jan. 9 talks with the university library director and the Academic Research Information Team, the council, known as “YeoWoon,” and the school agreed to open all five reading rooms around the clock when students sit for exams. YeoWoon, which had made an election pledge to improve the library’s studying environments, also said the school has taken measures to remove all the tables in its Hyu Place resting room and install 10 additional sofas in a bid to turn it a complete resting place for student users. Other agreements with the school include extended opening hours of 16 group study rooms inside the library to 9 p.m. in the first semester. In addition, HUFS students also have found it inconvenient that chairs in the reading rooms had some problems such as unfixed backs of chairs and armrests. In order to address this, YeoWoon decided to independently have new chairs installed on a pilot basis.

 Many students welcome the YeoWoon-school agreement that resolves to provide a better studying environment. Park Yoon-jeong, a sophomore studying English Linguistics and Language Technology, said, “Only the two reading rooms out of five were open 24 hours a day. When I studied in one reading room, I had to move to the other two rooms if I wanted to study after midnight. This felt inconvenient. Through this renovation, I can avoid the hassle of moving to other reading rooms so that I can study for more time with no inconvenience.”