Libraries Reject Later Hours

The Harvard College Library system on Wednesday denied a request by the Undergraduate Council for later closing hours at Lamont Library.

In explaining this denial, the libraries cited the security of library workers and budget constraints.

The council proposal—passed unanimously at a Nov. 18 meeting—called for a 1:45 a.m. closing time from Sunday through Wednesday and a 12:45 a.m. closing time on Thursday. The proposal would have extended the current closing time by one hour.

Lynda Leahy, associate librarian for research and instruction, said that if Lamont stayed open until 1:45 a.m., staffers would no longer be able to ride home on the T, forcing the library administration to arrange secure transportation for workers.

The libraries would also have to spend more money to keep staffers at Lamont for the additional hour.

But according to the libraries, the council’s proposal came at inopportune time as several costly long-term projects are currently underway.

“We’re looking at a very tight budget for next year, and expanding existing services is not in the cards,” Leahy wrote in her e-mail to council member Rohit Chopra ’04 announcing the libraries’ decision to deny the request for later hours.

Leahy said in an interview yesterday that the libraries’ budgets are currently strained as it is preparing for the launch of a new Hollis cataloging system this summer, dealing with the ongoing renovations to Widener Library and automating the Yenching Library’s circulation system.

While Leahy said that she did not know specifically how much the extended hours would cost, she said that library administrators had conducted research suggesting that extension of closing time was unfeasible in the near future.

Librarian of the Hilles and Lamont Libraries Heather E. Cole, who Leahy said undertook the research, could not be reached for comment over the weekend.

Chopra, who headed the council’s efforts to convince the libraries to institute later hours, characterized Lamont’s policies as inhospitable to undergraduates.

“Lamont Library is supposed to be the central undergraduate library, but clearly it is not serving undergraduates if they chose to extend library hours a few years back to open at 8 a.m. instead of 9 a.m., when there is barely a soul to be found,” Chopra wrote in an en e-mail on Friday to the council announcing the decision.

Later hours at Lamont were part of the campaign platform of Sujean S. Lee ’03 for a “later Harvard” in her successful bid for the council’s presidency last fall.

Chopra told the council members that he will arrange a meeting with Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles to ask the he reconsider the libraries’ decision and urged other council members to join in this effort.

Chopra criticized the library administrators in his message for choosing to build a “luxury” reading room in Widener Library and sending overly expensive packets to incoming first-years introducing them to the library system.

But even with this rejection, the council’s proposal is not entirely dead, Leahy said.

She said the library would consider extending hours as part of a general project the library system will conduct this spring to improve Lamont.

She said she will meet in the spring with many student groups, including the council, to solicit information on ways to better serve students. Along with later hours, Leahy also said Lamont would consider providing better wireless internet access within the library.

For now, offering later hours without more planning would be premature, she said.

“It is this kind of thing we need to address holistically,” she said. “I don’t think there’s an objection to it but we don’t want to do it badly.”

While Leahy noted one possibility could be leaving only a small portion of the library open during late night hours, she said the building’s five staircases would make it difficult to restrict use to one area.

While she said a renovation could be in the future for Lamont, she said no building project would be launched before the completion of the Widener renovation in 2004.

—Staff writer William M. Rasmussen can be reached at wrasmuss@fas.harvard.edu