80,000 Books Transfer to Lamont Before January 3

Approximately 80,000 books must move from the Widener, Union, and Boylston libraries into Lamont Library by the time it opens January 3, Philip McNiff, head librarian of Lamont, announced yesterday.

Book trucks start rolling through the tunnel connecting Widener and Lamont December 18. Undergraduates intending to catch up on reading here during the Christmas vacation will be able to reserve the books they need for use in Widener before the transfer starts.

Book Locations Explained

McNiff explained a tentative plan for the location of books in the new library. Volumes of required and collateral reading, which furnish the bulk of Lamont books, will be found in a main reading room. A poetry collection, an assortment of books on the history of Harvard, and the contents of the Farnsworth room will be transferred to special places. An additional 250,000 volumes from Widener and Houghton will eventually go to two stacks below the ground level in the new building.

New Widener Plan

The government library in the Union and the economics collection in Boylston will be closed when College reopens after Christmas. Those who walk into Widener's main reading room after the transfer will find an enlarged reference collection, in a reserve collection for graduate students, and an extension of the periodical room in the west end.