University Press Becomes a Carefully Guarded Fortress During Exam Period

Without the services of the University Press Harvard would be a far more agreeable if less stimulating place in which to live. There would still be trimly done menus promising with the same mystifying terminology great delicacies to come.

But, there would be no neatly printed exam papers, appearing so severly fresh and clean after a hectic night at the Widows. There would be no notifications of overdue termbills, no announcements of visiting lecturers, no placards for bulletin boards, and no latest books by your tutor.

Playing an integral part in the smooth functioning of the University, the press publishes a tremendous mass of material ranging from insignificant notices to vital documents. Punctuality and accuracy is the formula at press headquarters.

Promptness is nowhere more necessary than in the printing of examination papers, when the Quincy street head-quarters are converted into a well guarded fortress and the printers art is colored by a tinge of G-man melodrama.

In early January professors and instructors receive requests to send their mid-year examination questions promptly to the Press. (Several requests are sometimes required, according to those connected with the publishing department.) After being printed the papers are carefully locked in a well guarded vault, from which they are withdrawn only a few days before the date set for the examination.

Proofs are submitted to the authors for corrections. Each professor then gives his proofs to a single man who inserts the corrections and returns the proofs to the compositors. In their final form the papers are carefully counted and placed in sealed packets to await examination day. The professor as a rule arrives at the Press building half an hour before the examinations begin to recount the papers and ascertain that all is in correct order.

Although the student who is a few minutes late for an examination suffers accordingly, professors have been known to be late with impunity. Members of the publishing department recall having seen many a professor on the morning of a 9:15 o'clock examination arrive on the run at ten minutes past the hour. Needless to say the recounting of papers under such conditions is usually omitted.

As an average the Press publishers about 100 books a year. Two important series of publications over which they take charge are the Greek and Latin texts of Loeb Classical Library and many works in Chinese.