Book Mobility

Few doctors' waiting rooms could rival Lamont's sepulchral rest rooms in quantity of old magazines. Library employees in search of unshelved volumes might well be wary of venturing into the darker recesses of the rest rooms, but this does not explain how abandoned books elsewhere in the building can lie out in the open for days before they are returned to the shelves.

Some features of the Widener reserve policy are no easier to explain. A few hundred books, held on reserve for certain graduate-level courses, may be checked out overnight. However, since Widener has no book return slot, they are due at nine the next morning, rather than by nine. Despite the assurances some Lamont staff members will readily give, none but the wealthy should drop Widener reserves into Lamont's night-return chute. Facilities at Widener for book returns after closing time, or a Widener-Lamont accord should not be difficult to arrange. Either would be appreciated by those Harvard undergraduates who have not yet acquired the discipline and commitment of the 'Cliffies and graduate students, who reputedly troop dutifully into Widener every weekday and Saturday morning at 8:45.