University Switchboard Handles 2000 Calls a Day on 314 Party Lines--Amusing Requests for Information Received

University 7600! Where is the switchboard located, and how many lines does it include? After calling various offices of the University, always under this same number, undergraduates are curious as to the answers of these and similar questions. Contrary to popular belief, the switchboard is not located in the University information office, but is installed in a private office on the top floor of Lehman Hall designated as the University switchboard room.

With three operators on duty from 8.30 to 5.30 o'clock daily excepting Saturday, when the board closes at 3 o'clock, and with extensions to 314 phones, the University switchboard handles approximately 2,000 calls every day. In fact so many subscribers are listed on this exchange, that it has become necessary to issue a 15-page directory for those included by the exchange so that calls may be made by number rather than by name. The Business School, H. A. A., and Medical School have switchboards of their own listed on the city exchange, but the first two named also maintain a direct connection with the University switchboard.

Although the mechanical system of the intramural exchange is similar to the regular city exchange, the Harvard switchboard is individual in one respect. To a person calling University 7600, comes the response, "Harvard", rather than the usual "number please" of other exchanges. An interesting feature of this exchange is the ability of all three operators to give without hesitation the number and addresses of all officers and professors connected with the University.

Like all telephone exchanges, the local office has had its share of amusing requests for information. Outstanding among those was a request for information about the average weight of an hippopotamus. Another time a young girl called up to know if the University Museum was going to exhibit the mermaid which Boston newspapers had reported found off Swampscott. Among the irritating experiences of the operators are inquiries by persons who call up to learn "if the operator is asleep or not", and the arguments of persons who refuse to believe the operator who tells them the line is busy.