No Books, No Beds, Long Walks

It was a nightmare. First, you woke up after the 13th roommate they'd put into your Currier House triple rolled over on top of you. And since you were already awake, you figured you'd go down to the Coop to pick up the books for your science course.

So you trekked down to the Square, only to find the Coop's textbook shelves empty of the books you wanted. And when you returned to Hilles Library to look over the volumes you couldn't buy, you found they'd all been moved to the Science Center.

Many people found their return to Cambridge more difficult than usual this week, with overcrowding and textbook shortages affecting the entire University community, and the transfer of the Hilles science collection to the Science Center working as an additional disadvantage for Radcliffe residents.

The overcrowding has had serious effects on six Houses--Currier, Dunster, Leverett, Mather, Quincy and Winthrop--with few signs of early relief. Sophomore roommate groups have been split in several cases, and living rooms turned into economy doubles.

As if the overcrowding were not enough, a survey of Coop textbook shelves this week revealed extremely limited selections in several subjects--particularly history, government and economics. Most students, according to estimates, will be able to purchase only 75 per cent of their required texts this semester.

Those who planned to use Hilles for scientific reading were subject to added dismay: the library's entire collection has been moved to the new Undergraduate Science Center. A coalition of students and faculty have begun a campaign to have the 8000 volumes returned to Radcliffe's shelves. A new era of aggravation has begun.