ADEQUATE FACILITIES FOR PRESCRIBED READING.

With the Library, as it is, the centre of all academic activity, it is strange indeed that such inadequate provision is made for students reading in the larger courses. It not infrequently happens that a class of from one to two hundred men is assigned to read one hundred pages in one book for a section meeting. By a simple calculation it is evident that if the book were in constant use for every available hour during two weeks, only one hundred and fifty-four men could do the reading and this is taking for granted that the work can be done in one hour, which is usually not the case. The result is, that those who really wish to prepare for their conferences go to the Library, wait half an hour for the book, are allowed to read for one hour, and then, with about half their work done, they are relieved from further exertion by the assistant, who comes and takes away the book. It is manifestly impossible for large classes to properly prepare their work under these conditions. The alternative, that each student procure for himself copies of the works, is not generally practicable, and in many cases, obviously impossible. The necessity of having the books in the Library has been so keenly felt by some professors that they have personally supplied extra copies.

This situation, we learn with dismay, is the result of a recent change of policy on the part of the Library. It has decided to buy only one copy of each new book, no matter how many men are required to use it. This stingy and short sighted policy is already making itself felt, and, as new works appear from year to year and are added to the lists of prescribed reading, a time must come when there will be no extra copies of the required books. When this state of affairs is reached, many courses will be seriously hampered by the restriction of the reading to a few easily available books, and "text-books" will again be in vogue.

The so-called "library method." of instruction, which is now in use in the majority of courses at Harvard, was originated by this University, and is undoubtedly a great advance over the former "text-book" system. The present policy of the Library means practically a return to this inferior method. For this reason, it is a backward step and likely in the end to prove far more costly than its monetary saving can justify.