A CHANGE IN LIBRARY POLICY.

The office of Director of the University Library has recently been established by the Governing Boards and Professor A. C. Coolidge '87 has been appointed to the post. This new position was created in order that there might be some pivotal centre through which all the library interests of the University could be coordinated. The Harvard Library is by far the largest and most valuable college library in America and it stands as one of the ten largest libraries in the world. Though its main collections are in Gore Hall, there are besides the large special libraries of the Divinity, Law and Medical Schools and about thirty subsidiary or departmental libraries scattered about the precincts of the University. The administration of these has been carried on by the University Librarian, Mr. W. C. Lane '81, though each of the professional school collections has been developed by its own librarian. It is hoped that the new system, while still allowing the University Librarian and the departmental heads the same freedom they have effectively used in the past, may create a unity among the libraries which it has not hitherto been possible to achieve.

The CRIMSON hopes that under the new direction the subsidiary libraries will receive much needed attention. These at present lack proper advertising among the students as to their location, the qualifications for membership, and the time during which books may be used. If uniform hours and a standard method of gaining admission to the subsidiary libraries were adopted, it would facilitate their use, and consequently increase their service to the University. Furthermore, by generally acquainting undergraduates with these facts, the overtaxed resources of Gore Hall could be proportionately relieved.