The final week of classes is here, and next week will mark the first time students will be on campus for finals since the end of the fall 2019 semester.

Under normal circumstances, the library and any possible desk you can find on campus would now be packed with students trying to study for their exams. However, this year is different.

For some reason, the Pattee and Paterno Libraries are still running normal hours for the next two weeks. The library will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays, closed Saturday, and be open again on Sundays from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. This simply shouldn’t be the case.

Students haven’t had many options when it came to finding a place to study this past year. Between Zoom fatigue and burnout from having 16 consecutive weeks of classes, it has been harder than ever for students to concentrate on school work. Having places to do homework and study besides one’s own apartment or dorm room would help drastically, especially during finals week, but there simply isn’t anywhere to go.

In addition to the library being open for only limited hours, the Stacks and many other quiet parts of the library are still closed. This forces students to flock to the limited number of classrooms available on campus to finally find a quiet place to get work done, and before you know it, almost every single classroom is occupied.

Even the classrooms still have restricted hours, too. Most buildings on campus are now closed after 7 p.m. during the week, and almost every building is closed after 11 p.m. Many classroom buildings have not only classrooms but also large lobbies or sitting areas where students can find a quiet place to get some serious work done.

For example, the Business Building has a huge atrium with plenty of seats for students to work, but it still closes at 7 p.m. Making spaces like that available to students to study for at least a few more hours would go a very long way. If you wanted to make the argument that it would be way too much cleaning to do because of COVID-19, then more parts of the library should open back up with extended hours for just one week.

We all know how difficult it is for students to try to study in their own dorm rooms or apartments. With one week remaining before finals, students have already faced a ton of academic adversity this year. The least Penn State could do is find some way to offer students more space to study for finals.