A precious few places to hang out are open 24 hours in San Francisco; a few
cafes, health clubs, and the computer lab in the library at SF State.

The 24-hour lab is a hot spot for students who choose to skip weekend nights out clubbing to write papers, complete projects and study for tests.

Like many popular hangouts, certain times are the busiest in the lab, for example around midterms and finals.

“Especially midterms and finals (weeks), at 3 a.m. people are waiting to get a computer,” said S. Reyes, a night security guard at the lab.

Reyes has worked in the all-night lab for five years and has an appreciation for the late-night studiers.

“They’re good students,” he said. “They spend most of their time here late at night.”

The night crew at the library consists of students in all majors, from
biology to history, the library staff and a few homeless drifters who come
in to keep warm.

“There are all kinds of homeless people (in the library),” said Samson Ahf, 30, an engineering major. “(Sometimes) they’re distracting, they snore also."

When it gets too bad, the night security guard has to address the homeless problem.

“In my case, I tell people to leave because they’re making noise, “ said Reyes.

“When we ask them to be quiet and they’re resistant, we ask for I.D.”

If anyone gets too loud or obnoxious, and cannot produce student or faculty identification, he or she is asked to leave or be escorted out.

Some students on a recent Saturday night said they do not get offended by drifters and don't blame them for trying to keep warm at night.

Yet even with its popularity on the upsurge in the last weeks of school, some SF
State students have not found their way to the all-night lab.

“I’ve never been in that computer lab, ever,” said Danny Fisk, 20, an urban
studies major.

The lab always looks crowded during the day, Fisk said, but he has never tried
going at night. The students who do should be commended, he said.

“They’re much more dedicated to their studies than I am myself,” he said.
Skipping a Saturday night to party would be fun, said Ahf, but very short lived.

“It doesn’t make you feel better to party,” he said.

Ahf gets too distracted with the big screen television in his room, so he goes to the lab at night when no one is around to bother him.

It might be hard to imagine, but 24-hour access to computers was not always available at SF State. In the late '90s, The CSU Academic Information resource council gave CSUs two alternatives to provide students with 24-hour access to computer technology. One, short-term computer loans would allow students to check out personal notebooks for up to five days. The second was the 24-hour lab, which was originally thought to be impractical since so many students live off-campus at CSUs.

SF State, Chico State and Sacramento State universities all set goals to provide 24-hour computer labs for students by the year 2000, and each school suceeded.

The library computer services, such as electronic journals that charge non-
students a fee to subscribe, are also available 24 hours a day, but now they can be utilized from the comforts of home through the library Web site.

However, the J. Paul Leonard library will undergo improvements that will give more students access to computers and study space.

A $95.5 million dollar bond to fund the library and its renovation could be completed as soon as 2006, when the first phase of construction is complete. By 2007, all renovations are projected to be completed, which includes two new buildings and a labor archives and research center. New services will range from a new computer lab to a multimedia development center.

The 24-hour computer lab and study area will probably still attract dedicated students who choose to study instead of party, but with the new improvements, it will be a larger and better-equipped late night hangout. The disco ball has yet to be approved, but there is always next semester.