Borrowers Vandalize 75 Percent Of Library Books, Haynes Claims

At least three-fourths of the books in the College library in general circulation are either marked up or mutilated, Robert H. Haynes, assistant librarian, said yesterday.

In addition to marking up books, Haynes said that the most vicious practice was the actual cutting out of photographs and pages from a book, declaring that it was pure vandalism and should not occur at a place such as Harvard.

As examples, he pointed to Schumpeter's Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. "Although the library has many copies of this book, not one is in a reasonably clean condition. He also said that one student had cut out of the "Philosophical Journals" ten articles. Not to be outdone, another cut out every article on Gerard Manley Hopkins in every journal in Widener, 23 in all.

"The most distressing part of this deplorable practice is that it has been increasing in the last few years," he declared. "Often the use of the book is lost since the library staff is unwilling to replace such a book, since students would probably mark up the new copy."

Haynes has set up an exhibit in Widener showing examples of books that have been marked up and mutilated. He pointed out the part of the exhibit where a clean copy of a book is compared with a typically messy copy from the Library's shelves.