BO.O.K LIFE-SAVERS

Approximately three hundred books are taken out of the Widener reading rooms every night, and these are due at nine o'clock the next morning. There are always some which are returned late, and occasionally one which the borrower neglects altogether until a special messenger from the library calls for it, and a fine of fifty cents in addition.

When a man takes out a volume at 10.00 P. M., he usually studies it for at least two hours before going to bed, so that he does not feel in the mood to get up early the next morning for the sole purpose of returning it on time. If he takes it out on Saturday, he may wish to go into Boston for dinner on Sunday--and so he faces the difficulty of having it returned to the library between one and two o'clock on that afternoon. Of course room-mates are useful as messenger boys, but not, always available.

A suggestion has been made, which, if put into execution, would save everyone trouble, whether borrower, roommate, or librarian. An adapted mailchute could easily be installed somewhere on the outside of Widener into which all books could be returned at any time, whether the library were open, or not. Besides saving students a daily climb of the main staircase, it would allow them to return books in the evening before going to bed, or on Sunday morning before leaving college for a visit to relatives in town; and it would save the library authorities much petty annoyance from those who are late in returning books.

If a device such as the proposed chute is installed, the decrease in the number of latenesses alone would be argument enough for its adoption, but there are other advantages, and comparatively few objections can be raised. The chute can easily be arranged to guard against injury to the books which are dropped in it, and the extra work entailed for library assistants will be comparatively slight. An opening in the side of Widener will come in the nature of a life-saver to most of those who borrow library books.