CIRCLING THE SQUARE

The New England Deposit Library is a library for books that people don't read. It contains those gems of Harvard's 5,000,000-volume aggregation which have been found to be least in demand. Keeping these company are the littlest-read books from 11 other libraries, including the Boston Public Library and the Boston Athenaeum.

Way back in 1902, President Eliot surveyed the overcrowded library in Gore Hall and "doubted whether it be wise for a University to undertake to store books by the millions when only a small proportion of the material stored can be in active use." He suggested that dead books could be stored in a much more compact manner in separate quarters. Naturally every professor was horrified by the thought that a book in his department could be considered "dead," so the idea was dropped for 40 years.

The Deposit Library, a square windowless structure behind the soccer field, was constructed just before the war. It was largely the brainchild of Keyes D. Metcalf, University librarian, who brought the important libraries of the Boston area into the plan and got Harvard to put up $250,000 for the construction of the building.

Since then, Harvard and the other participants have poured a steady stream of books and newspapers into the library, which now contains about 345,000 volumes. The University contracted for 40 per cent of the space, and has filled 95 per cent of its allotment. Construction of Lamont and Houghton eased the crowding in Widener considerably, but about 23,000 books were sent across the river last year ,many of them wartime European publications which could not be placed in regular circulation because they were unbound.

Though the University pays $11,000 annual rent to the Deposit Library (most of which comes back to pay off the mortgage), it figures its savings in labor and shelf space well worth it.

The main reason for the savings is that books are classified by size instead of subject matter, which allows twice as many books to be crowded into a certain space. This makes it rather difficult to find books on a certain subject; the seeker must know the position of each separate volume.

None of the books and newspapers put in deposit are rebound or processed in any other way. Many of the century-old journals are crumbling dangerously.

An average of 25 books a day are either lent out to member libraries or used in the Deposit' reading room by people with special passes. Only 402 people have visited the building since 1942.

Not only books and newspapers have been stored in the building. During the war, the Army conducted a research center in the first floor, and Business School beds and Fogg Museum furniture were kept in the building at various times. Currently a huge stack of boxes of WPA documents is sitting on the first level, courtesy of the Massachusetts State Library.

One fond hope of the Deposit Library was to build up a collection of its own from duplicates of books which were deposited by more than one member institution. The collection as present consists of "The Book of Business Etiquette," "The American Government Today," and a couple of dictionaries. Rapid growth is not expected in the near future.