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In order that the students in the College and the graduate schools of the University may be made acquainted with the advantages of the Widener Library and in order to promote efficiency in the use of the Library the CRIMSON prints the following suggestions:
The Library is open week-days from 8.45 A. M. to 10 P. M. The Delivery Department is open from 9 A. M. to 5.30 P. M. On holidays the Delivery Desk is closed, but the reading room is open as usual, except on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day, when the whole Library is closed. On Sundays the General Reading Room is open from 1 to 10 P. M.
Students newly enrolled in the University should register at the Delivery Desk on the Second Floor, bringing their Bursar's Card. By registering a student secures the right to borrow books. Five books may be taken at a time for use in the Reading Room but not more than three for outside use.
Catalogue Contains Call Numbers
In order to obtain books the borrower should look up in the Card Catalogue the book which he wants, to ascertain the call-number of shelf mark. He should then make out a slip for each book wanted; a buff colored slip if the book is for outside use, or a blue slip if it is for use in the Reading Room.
Books may ordinarily be kept out of the Library for a month, but certain new books or books much in demand are loaned only for a period of fourteen days or a week. Borrowers who do not return their books on time incur a fine of five cents a day. Postal card notices are sent as reminders of books overdue. Persistent neglect to return books or pay fines becomes a matter for College discipline.
In using the Card Catalogue, to find a certain book, the student should look under the name of the author, when known. If the author is not known, the book may be found under the subject heading; or often under the first word of the title, when a title is distinctive and easily remembered. Anonymous books are entered under the first word of the title which is not an article. The publications of societies and institutions will be found under the name of the society or institution. Publications of the departments of the government--national, state, or city--are entered under the name of the place, the several departments of each government being arranged in alphabetical order.
If there is difficulty in using the Catalogue, Mr. Briggs, the Assistant Librarian, or one of the assistants at the Delivery Desk will be glad to help.
There is a separate catalogue of the books which are reserved in the Reading Room, at the Reading Room Desk. A list of the call numbers of the most used periodicals is posted in the Delivery Room and also in the Reading Room (next to case 64).
There are several rooms and collections in the Library which are not well known and are little used.
The Library's collection of United States and British documents is placed in the stack next to the Periodical Room, on the second floor, and is open to all students who need to use them. The Bibliographical Reference Room opens out of the Delivery Room on the side opposite from the General Reading Room. It contains bigliographies, indexes to newspapers and periodicals and catalogues of other libraries, especially lists of special classes of books and reference lists.
Special Libraries on Top Floor
Many of the special libraries connected with the College Library remain in the Laboratories or other departmental buildings. Those now brought together in the Widener Library on the top floor of the building are the following: Room A. the Sanskrit Library; Room E, the Classical Library; Rooms F, G, H, and I, Graduate School of Business Administration; Room K, Graduate Historical Library; Room O, Bureau of Municipal Research; Room Q, German Library; Room T. Mathematical Library; Room V, Economics Library; Room W, French Library; Room X, Lowell Memorial Library (Romance Languages); Room Z, Child Memorial Library (English), Rooms L and M, the Winsor Memorial Rooms, contain the Map Collection. Rooms R and S contain the great collection of theatrical literature and other material, including portraits, playbills, and autographs given to the Library by Mr. Robert Gould Shaw '69, of Boston, and enlarged by the bequest of Evert J. Wendell.
The book stacks are open to Officers of the University, to Graduate Students, and to Undergraduates doing Graduate work. Before using the stacks students must present recommendations from their instructors, stating the reason for granting the privilege.
Two Libraries on First Floor
The Widener Memorial Rooms, opening from the landing of the main staircase, contain the library collected by Harry Elkins Widener of the class of 1907. The collection is composed of books of the highest rarity and interest, in the choicest condition, and enriched by inscriptions, manuscripts, and portraits.
The Treasure Room is on the first floor of Library at the foot of the main staircase to the right. In this room are kept the rarer books belonging to the Library (except the Widener Collection), many books of interesting personal association, and the collection of manuscripts. The Farnsworth Room contains a miscellaneous collection of attractive books for general reading. It may be used as a reading room by all members of the University but it is not to be used for study.
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