Butler Will Install Swipe-Access Machines

Butler Library will replace its flash-access system beginning this January, opting to install CUID swipe readers to increase security.

The switch will begin in January and continue gradually. The new system will require students to enter Butler through turnstiles, to be installed by the fall, as is the case in Lerner Hall.

According to James Neal, vice president for information services and University librarian, the gradual transition should allow officials to resolve any problems with the swipe technology before the barriers are installed. “We want to ensure that whatever changes that are made are aesthetically appropriate and functional,” Neal said. “We don’t want to create a situation where students are lined up.”

When students swipe their CUID, their name, photo, and library access privileges will appear on a screen behind the security desk. A guard will monitor this screen to prevent people from entering Butler with another person’s or a non-Columbia ID.

Robert Price, CC ’09, said that he has occasionally lent his CUID to friends so they could get into Butler. “It’s a beautiful library—you like to bring your friends in sometimes,” he said. “I’ve been an accomplice to things like that.”

Price added that lending IDs “has been used for harmless purposes” and that he doesn’t think it has threatened library security. “It’s not like people will give their ID to actual strangers,” he said.

Though the new system will prevent entrance with borrowed CUIDs, temporary library passes will continue to be available for visiting college students. These passes can be obtained at the office near Butler’s entrance.

“Personally, I think libraries in general should be public,” Casey Ehrlich, a SIPA first-year, said. “I don’t have a problem with people who are not Columbia students studying at this University. If someone’s from NYU or just lives in New York, ... it’s not a big deal.”

Margaret Rizzo, a Union Theological Seminary student, said she comes to Butler about twice a month.

“I just flash my Union ID,” Rizzo said. She was caught once, she said, and had to go to the information desk to obtain temporary access.

With the swipe system, “I’d be holding people up trying to get through,” Rizzo said.

Even for Columbia students, she said, “It’s technology. If there’s a backup, we’ll have a line of people waiting out in the rain to get inside.”

The change may serve to open up seats by cracking down on those who, like Rizzo, sneak in by quickly flashing another ID.

Neal emphasized that, while it might be ideal to allow everyone to study in Butler, there is limited space in the building. “We want to ensure that groups who have priority use are not facing unavailability of seating due to people in the building who are not appropriately here,” he said.

Maggie Astor can be reached at news@columbiaspectator.com.