Widener Stacks, Reading Rooms To Be Opened Evenings Till Ten

Widener Library closed in the evenings since September of 1932, will be kept open all evenings, except Saturdays and Sundays, until 10 o'clock. This return to the former policy will begin Monday and continue throughout the current year. Widener officials and officers of the University hope that conditions will make it possible to keep to the same policy next year.

The decision to keep Widener open evenings, coming after considerable agitation on the part of the student body and in the editorial columns of the CRIMSON, was the result of a recommendation to the Office by Robert Pierpont Blake '12, Director of Widener and Professor of History. The Library was first closed in 1932 as part of a general economy program, with the understanding that the closing was an emergency measure, and Widener would be opened for evening use as soon as possible.

When questioned on the decision of the University authorities, Mr. Blake said, "I do not know why it suddenly became possible for the authorities to open the Library again, but I believe that the fact that more money came in during the past year made the opening possible. We have always felt that the Library being closed in the evenings was a great inconvenience to the students and were determined to re-open it in the evenings as soon as financial conditions permitted the extra expenditure necessary to keep the building open for hours longer, five days of the week."

Mr. Blake said that several new employees would be necessary, but that he was not certain whether men from the student employment bureau would be used. However it will be necessary to pay all the regular staff overtime for the added four hours, and to keep several responsible members at the building until closing time. Mr. Blake said that he felt, regardless of the added expense, that the return to the evening policy would be a success.