The
Saint
THURSDAY 16 OCTOBER 2025 | WWW.THESAINT.SCOT | ISSUE 292
Library Access Disrupted Amid Ongoing Maintenance Issues
Welcome the Wasps by Logan Sibbald Sprawled on a gingham blanket absorbing the height of the summer sun, your carefully cultivated tranquillity is easily shattered by an approaching buzz. Fight or flight suddenly triggered, your mind cogitates over potential sources for the noise. A bluebottle perhaps? Annoying, gross, but mostly harmless. A bumblebee? Scarier, some stinging potential, but hardworking honey-makers, nonetheless. The worst-case scenario then comes to mind — a wasp. Read on Page 29.
InFocus: Nicholas Bradley by Cyrus Tahbaz
AVA GOODMAN News Writer Since the beginning of the 202526 academic year, concerns have grown over whether the University of St Andrews can maintain the Main Library as a suitable study space for students amid numerous maintenance problems. Closures on essential resources, reduced opening hours, and overoccupied study areas have left students looking for answers — and alternatives. On Friday 26 September, the library closed the entire Level 3 floor, leaving students unable to retrieve books, access bathrooms, or utilise key study spaces. Many students expressed frustration not only at the disruption but also at the lack of communication, noting that no email or social media communications were issued to inform them of this closure.
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Just three days later, on Monday 29 September, the Library closed all of the building’s toilets. The complete closure of this essential provision without communication also concerned the University’s community. According to the Library’s website, the North Street Main Library was opened in 1976 due to “pressure on space and increasing student numbers” and “was extensively renovated from 2011 to 2012.” For a notyet-50-year-old building, these maintenance-related instances raise questions about its upkeep. Franki’s Café, a key feature of the Main Library, offering snacks or fresh drinks, is officially advertised on the University’s website as being open and staffed from 8am to 4:30pm during the week. Yet during the week of 6-10 October, a sign in the café informed students that “from 6th October to the 10th of October the
Café in the library will be self- to significantly reduce Main service.” As with the recent Library opening hours for the floor and restroom closures, upcoming academic year due to students reported receiving low usage in the late evenings. no correspondence from the After some negotiations with the University about the change. Library, I secured a full reversal This year, the Library’s of the cuts for revision and first opening hours have also exam weeks, restoring the 2am been reduced. For the 2025 closing time on those key dates.” Martinmas semester, the Main Bannister has also turned Library’s opening hours are 8am her attention to the problem to 12am, seven days a week. In of ‘desk hogging.’ New past academic years, the library signage around the Library, had a 2am closing time for the along with posts on Unionfull term-time. At the time of affiliated Instagram accounts, publication, the University urge students to take their had not responded to The belongings with them when Saint’s request for comment. leaving for a study break, using Study space provision the slogan “Be kind, unwind, has been a key priority and leave your desk behind! for Students’ Association SAY NO TO DESK HOGGING!” President of Education, Bannister told The Saint, Emily Bannister, with the “Your academic representatives Main Library at the centre. have partnered with the Library Speaking to The Saint about to launch a targeted campaign the changes in library opening aimed at freeing up study space hours, Bannister said, “In and encouraging considerate July, I was informed of plans Continued on Page 4.
It is a tired cliché, particularly in St Andrews, to observe that ‘everyone has a story.’ There is, however, no better adage with which to begin a profile on Nicholas Bradley, who has, for the past six years, been the Receptionist Administrator at Saints Sport. Bradley, who still works as a freelance photojournalist, has had a storied career ranging from the corridors of news agencies in Paris and New Delhi to documenting war, civil unrest, and everyday life across Asia and the Middle East. Read on Page 6.
Inside the Dunhill: Big Bob Mac, Bieber, and Beyond by Elodie Cowan MacIntyre became the first Scot in twenty years to win the Dunhill (Colin Montgomerie did it in 2005), with the classic Scottish mixture of riotous winds and horizontal rain from Storm Amy playing into his hands. But this year’s Dunhill wasn’t just about the homesoil win. The abuse received by Team Europe at the Ryder Cup hung like a stubborn cloud over the press rooms, with each player conference focusing on the fallout rather than the week ahead. Read on Page 32.
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