Lamont Lament

With blood-shot January all too vivid a memory, Lamont Library's late closing hours during last spring's reading period came as an undergraduate paradise. The extended quiet and comfort provided a welcome contrast to the distraction of new New Yorkers and the clamor of old roomates.

For this reason, yesterday's announcement that Lamont will not retain the Sunday and late week-day hours comes as an alarming surprise. Library officials justified the decision by explaining that not enough students used the library during last spring's experiment to warrant the added expense. They pointed out that as few as 113--three percent of the College--remained in the library until 11 p.m. one night.

Yet it is also true that 688 scholars took advantage of the late hours on another night--almost equalling the peak total of users earlier in the day. Despite this capacity load, however, the librarians still ask whether the occasional full-scale use is worth the additional expense. But one estimate places the cost per term at $2,500; last year's skeleton operation required only $1,600.

Even this expense, officials believe, is too great for a "glorified study hall," especially since the House libraries are so little used. But as exams draw nearer and nearer, seats in House libraries grow fewer and fewer, and, in addition, many students seem to prefer the cool, quiet comfort of Lamont. Library officials have stated that "we would rather have a first-class library with limited hours than a second-class library with longer hours." Their concern is thus evident, as it was when they showed their willingness to cooperate with students in such past matters as Friday checkout times.

But Lamont can remain both a first-class library during regular hours, and a welcome if not glorified study hall afterwards. Checkout Desk Three could be manned by a smaller staff after 10, and the Desk One door could be closed at that hour. Similarly, there is no need to staff the Poetry Room after regular hours, so personnel costs could be cut further. Such a study hall system could even be extended to Sundays during the entire year.

Any danger of unfairness to graduate schools would be obviated by a study hall plan, for among the students who used Lamont late last spring were about 50 graduates. Since they usually brought their own books, Lamont was evidently a welcome study hall; keeping the research libraries open would only duplicate Lamont's function as an after-hours reading room.

Such a renewal of serene calm to hectic crammers should be instituted by next exam period. Finances should not impose a handicap. In 1949, when the building was dedicated, Lamont librarian Phillip J. McNiff said, "Our aim was a reading library, rather than a research library." After spending an initial $2,500,000 to achieve this objective, it certainly seems worth $5,000 a year to preserve it.