Pain in the Stacks

Widener Library does not permit undergraduates to check out scholarly publications, or any other sort of periodical. In a letter printed below, a library official justifies this policy on the grounds that periodicals "must be available when needed"; entire volumes must not be "immobilized" by students interested in only one article.

Undergraduates know better. The demand for most of these bound volumes is not great. The infrequent dates stamped on the back of them show that they are not checked out often. It is impossible to estimate how often they are used in the library, of course--but observation of a few sets of well-known scholarly publications over several days indicates that they rarely leave the stacks. And, of course, the policy restricts the use of more than scholarly publications. An undergraduate who recently tried to take out a bound volume of The Baker Street Quarterly, for example, was politely told that it only circulated to faculty members.

Just what is Widener worried about? Even if there should be a conflict, even if someone should desperately need an article in a volume a student has checked out, the library has only to recall the volume by postcard, the way it recalls other books now.

Library officials must recognize this themselves, since they permit Faculty members (from teaching fellows on up) to check out periodicals for a month as they would any other book. It is only undergraduates and other non-Faculty users of the library who are told that "there is ... little justification for such volumes to circulate." Only undergraduates have to read and take notes on them within five days, during library hours--and miss the convenience of reading them at leisure or having them at hand while writing a paper. Only undergraduates are reminded that copying services (not free) are nearby.

The inadequacy of the library's explanation makes even more apparent that this is an unwise policy.