LIBRARY HOLDINGS REVEAL LESS RAPID GROWTH IN 1931-2

Approximately 173,000 volumes were added to the College Library last year, it is revealed in the annual report of R. P. Blake, director of the Library, which is to be published within the next ten days. The increase is some 20,000 below that of the previous year, when the total number of volumes passed the three million mark. The decline in the rate of increase is concentrated chiefly in the College Library itself, since the special libraries show an increase due largely to purchases of books for the Harvard-Yenching Institute. The Business School has also added nearly twice as many books this year.

closing of Widener Explained

Of interest to the student body is the way in which the report explains the shortening of Library hours. The major problem which has preoccupied the minds of the executive officers of the Library during the past year has been how they might bring about the necessary economies which have been forced upon them by the shrinkage of the University's income. Although the actual inauguration of these measures falls outside the periods covered by the report, the necessary preliminary planning lay within its scope.

It was clear that to retrench some 16 percent in the budget and to continue to operate the Library could only be done by a major curtailment either in personnel or in service rendered to the University.

It was decided, according to the report, to adopt the second alternative, and to close the Widener Memorial building evenings and all day Sunday. This enabled a saving of half the necessary amount in heat and light, in cleaning, and in wages paid to part-time and to over-time workers. The remainder has been obtained by paring all along the line in supplies and equipment, by purchasing fewer books, and by giving up the checking service in the coat room.

The length of paid vacations for the staff has likewise been reduced from a month to three weeks, brings the Library practice into harmony with the cognate departments of the University. No now members have been taken on the staff, and the places of those who left have not always been filled.

The Catalogue Department reports total of 120,000 titles catalogued and continuations recorded, which is practically, the same as the figure of last year. Not only was all material purchased on order last year and all essential volumes received by gift taken care of, but in addition several minor problems are reported to have been solved. The hope is expressed in the report that a decrease in the number of items to be purchased during the coming year will enable the department to make an efficient attack on selected portions of the uncatalogued arrears.

A serious problem confronts the Catalogue Department, it appears, in connection with the crowded trays in the official catalogue. Many of the drawers are now so packed with cards, that one can consult them only with considerable difficulty and the cards themselves suffer from the rough treatment they necessarily receive. A large case of card trays will have to be added in the immediate future, probably to be placed in the corridor outside the catalogue room.

A substantial increase in circulation is reported by the Circulation Department. 22,000 more volumes went into circulation this year than last, and this is paralleled by a similar increase in the total of those registered for library privileges, amounting to some 400 persons. Visiting scholars who are allowed to make use of the stacks increased in number from 456 last year to 572 this year. The beneficial effects of inspecting the books taken out of the Library continue to manifest themselves. A cheek of certain well-used sections of the stacks has shown that the losses have fallen off by $5 per cent as compared to three years ago.

It is shown in the report that the House libraries and the library in the Freshman Union, which are finally catalogued and in reliable working order, are coming to be intensively used and since the forced closing of the College Library are fulfilling an important function in the University.

No new book funds have come in this year, but the report points out that the generous assistance of many donors has done much this year in building up the collections