LOST BOOKS

The failure of the College Library to make adequate provision for the replacement of lost books is a source of frequent annoyance to those who use the Library often. No record is kept at present when a student calls for lost books, and a volume may be missing for years before the Library buys a duplicate.

Under the present arrangement lost books are replaced only at the request of a member of the faculty. The officials maintain that all essential books will sooner or later be called for by instructors and that students who really want certain books will prevail upon their instructors to go to the trouble of having them ordered. Such naive beliefs would be surprising in any but those who must spend an undue amount of time threading the mazes of Widener.

A careful checking over of the list of lost books at regular intervals and the replacement of those which the Library ought to have is at least as important as the purchase of new books. The necessity of various purchases is, of course, a difficult problem, wholly up to the Library administration. But student demand for books would certainly appear to be of sufficient importance to command at least partial recognition.