OPEN THE READING ROOM

Elsewhere in this column is printed a letter which maintains, among other things that "it is far from a necessity or even an urgent need" that the Widener Reading Room should be kept open during the reading and examination periods. The correspondent's attitude toward this question is apparently largely shaped by the fact that at the moment he is engaged in defending the departments of Military and Naval Science. At any rate, it should be perfectly evident that his views regarding Widener are not generally shared by the undergraduate body. There is a very strong and a very justifiable body of sentiment which differs from Mr. Tillinghast, which feels that the closing of Widener is a handicap, especially in a busy period, to a proper course of preparation, and that such a handicap is not justified by the economies involved.

In the recent past the CRIMSON has proposed economies beyond the library which would permit reopening the reading room during the reading and examination periods. If these are not convincing arguments, and it is only too obvious that a great many important people still wish to remain convinced, then there is another economy, this time internal, which might well be brought into play. Has it never occurred to Widener officials, during their conversations on this subject, that there is in their employ a body of about twenty men, whose jobs were created, whose time is at the disposal of the library, and whose work is paid for by a fund wholly beyond the library budget? The men under consideration are, of course, the undergraduates who work in Widener under the College Emergency Employment fund.

It is proposed that, during the examination period, the reading room be kept open in the evenings and be staffed with a selected group of these men. It is hard to believe that a sufficient number of them cannot be spared from their other tasks. It is hard to believe that four undergraduates could not be "trusted" with managing this room, provided the rest of the library were closed up. Let those who would argue otherwise recall that in the house libraries, undergraduates have been "trusted" with the same kind of work for three years, and that the "trust" has resulted not only in reasonable efficiency but in reasonable pleasantness as well.

As far as the reading room is concerned, the employment of undergraduates would reduce the costs of operation to the lighting of the room itself and of the hallway. It may very well be that the advantages accruing to the college from having the reading room open in the evenings are far outweighed by a light bill of $100. Perhaps Mr. Tillinghast and the Library officials will persist in feeling so. It is a conviction to which they are entitled. But one fears that it will gather them few laurels in the name of reason.