Arts, Sciences Faculty Gets Control of College Library

Control of Widener, Lamont, and Houghton Libraries has been transferred from the University to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, President Conant announced yesterday at the Lamont dedication.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences will feel no financial pinch this year because of the transfer, President Conant explained, as the necessary endowment has been transferred along with the Libraries. But if maintenance costs increase any more in the future, a Faculty committee will have to weigh the library's need against other requirements of the Arts and Sciences department.

University Pays Half

Since all departments of the University use the College Library to some extent, President Conant added, half of the basic operating costs of the library will be paid out of the general funds of the University.

The College Library, despite its name, has previously been supported entirely by the general funds of the University, President Conant explained. In the last fifteen years, $7,000,000 of these funds has been spent for construction or for upkeep of Widener collections, he said. This figure is about 40 percent of all the free capital funds given to the University in the same period.