INSUFFICIENT NUMBER OF BOOKS FOR PRESCRIBED READING.

In reply to the communication printed in another column we wish to say that, although those in charge of the Library protest that the facilities for required reading in the larger courses are adequate, we are advised from authoritative sources that this is not the case. Although the Library may not have consciously changed its policy with regard to the purchase of extra copies of books, it has been noticeable for a year or more that the supply of books for new courses has not been kept up to the demand. It is true that the Library has eight copies of Callender's "Economic History of the United States," but it is also true that these identical books were given by a professor in that department, for whose students adequate provision had not been made. It is also true that there are a few extra copies of required works in the Harvard Hall Library, but so far as we know no attempt is made to call the attention of the uninitiated to this fact, and even if Harvard Hall is included, we still maintain that not enough books are provided. In this connection we would suggest that, when additional copies are to be found in the Harvard Hall Library, a notice to this effect be posted on the "reserved shelves" in Gore Hall where the books in question are kept; and, furthermore, that all instructors should announce when they give out reading where the required books may be found.

In order to prove that no amount of forehandedness will enable all the students to do all the reading in some courses, we take the following concrete example. In Anthropology 1, a course taken by over 100 men, the students were assigned for the last conference to read 120 pages in a book of which there are two copies. Assuming that each man could cover the reading at the rate of 40 pages an hour, and that these books were in constant use, it would require exactly 14 days for the class to do the work. It is obviously impossible that the books be kept constantly in use during this time, and it is equally unfair to expect men to prepare for a conference two weeks in advance. Even if this system were practicable, it is a poor policy to require men to waste so much time waiting for books and not to make books as accessible as possible.

The only real excuse which we can grant to the Library for not keeping more extra copies is, as the Librarian writes, that the funds are limited; but we believe that if this fact were made generally known, contributions would soon be received to meet so vital a need.