Union Books Unused as Students Pack Widener, Boylston Libraries

Roomsful of unused course books and empty reading tables in the Union combine with the picture of jammed facilities in Widener and Boylston Libraries to create one of the greatest paradoxes of the present Hour examination period.

As necessary as it is peculiar, the situation is thought to have arisen because of insufficient publicity on the recent shifting to the Union of two-thirds of all books reserved for History 1, Government 1, and Economics A.

Lest upperclassmen in the three courses feel that the Union is strictly Freshman domain, John J. Gallen, supervisor of Boylston and the House libraries, said yesterday that he wished to make it clear that Freshman Dean Leighton and William Bradford, secretary of the Union, were freely granting all upperclassmen permission to use the Union as long as the emergency requires it.

Although two-thirds of the reserve books for the four largest College courses were shifted last week, Gallen stated that a check at Boylston reading room had revealed that four-fifths of the students were using one-third of the books.

Plenty of Room in Union

Other checks have shows that much of the reading table space in Widener and Boylston is being occupied by men who have brought their own books to study, contributing to the overcrowding while rows of reading tables lay idle in the Union.

At present, all of the reserve books for Ec A have been transferred to the Union Library on the second floor while two-thirds of the volumes for History 1 and Gov 1 are in a room nearby with the prospect of being reinforced with the remaining ones.

Further shifts in the reserve shelves already considered by library officials in- include the transfer of course books for History 5, History 62, and Philosophy 1 from Widener to Boylston as circumstances may require, these classes being the largest after the "Big Three."