Students study at the Sims Memorial Library, which will soon have weekend tutoring. Brianna Hawkins/The Lion’s Roar

The Center for Student Excellence has begun a new partnership with Sims Memorial Library to extend tutoring hours over the weekend for students.

The new partnership will begin services on Sunday, Jan. 28 from 6-9 p.m. in the library.

Learning Assistance Coordinator Carolyn Blackwood explained why CSE came up with the idea to provide weekend tutoring.

“The physical space in the Center for Student Excellence is limited, and we do appointments Monday through Thursday,” said Blackwood. “Friday mornings, we’ll do drop-in, but we still weren’t serving as many clients and students as we would hope to offer services to.”

Blackwood said it was CSE’s idea to partner with the library.

“It was our idea to look for a place where we can expand on the weekend,” said Blackwood. “So, I sought them out for the collaboration.”

Reference, Outreach and Instructional Media Librarian Angie Balius shared why the library agreed to be a part of this partnership.

“Since Sims Library is open on Sundays from 2-11 p.m., it seems like a natural opportunity for us to partner so that students who may be working during the week can come and get a little help on math and chemistry,” said Balius.

Blackwood said the plan has been in motion for about a year, and they look forward to being available to more students.

“We’ve actually been working on it since late last spring,” said Blackwood. “It requires some grants to get necessary equipment.”

Balius explained why tutoring is convenient for students.

“CSE has a pretty wide range of hours during the week, but until now, they were not available on the weekend,” said Balius. “This is just additional because a lot of our students work, and maybe right after they go to class, they rush off to a job. And again the Sunday hours, we’re the only departments on campus that has Sunday hours, especially Sunday evening hours. So, this is just an extra opportunity for students to get a little more practice with those math and chemistry courses.”

Blackwood said that many benefits in the collaboration come from what the library has to offer students.

“For the library, it’s offering services beyond computer services or actual physical books,” said Blackwood. “It’s offering ways for students to see the library as a hub on campus that offers many services, and for CSE, it’s the increased exposure in a new location.”

When it comes to why CSE is only focusing on math, chemistry and physics, Blackwood said that those courses are usually the most popular ones students need help with.

“Those are barrier courses for most degree programs,” said Blackwood. “Historically, they’re classes that require the most service hours from us. When we look at our stats, those are the courses that have the highest request.”

According to Blackwood, the services are the same, but the location is different.

“It’s the same service we offer on Friday mornings,” said Blackwood. “We actually offer physics on Friday mornings in addition to math and chemistry. So, I can’t say that it differs. It just has a new location.”

The one thing that is important for both CSE and the library is that more students take advantage of the service.