Hilles Library Staff Conducts Study That Refutes Alleged Overcrowding

Six weeks ago, when Radcliffe's new $5 million Hilles Library opened, delighted Cliffies were heard to exclaim, "Can it really be ours?" Compared to their old haunt on Garden Street Hilles was just too nice to believe.

But now the query "Can it really be ours?" has taken on quite a new meaning: Every night more than half the people in Hilles are either Harvard men or graduate students. Cliffies are practically fighting for seats in their beautiful new structure -- they say.

Yet, while dissatisfied Cliffies have been waiting for the Hilles staff to announce a solution to the problem of overcrowding, the staff has been making a study that indicates there may be no problem to solve.

Hilles Library has a seating capacity of 600. Over the past week, a count by the staff indicates that there have never been more than 341 people in the library -- even at the peak hour of 8:30 p.m. The average for that hour has been not quite 240, and is even less for other times during the day.

Ruth K. Porritt, Librarian, says there are always seats in the library. The crowding is more of an illusion than a reality -- Hilles looks crowded because there is never an empty study area, but instead almost always at least one person in an area designed for two or three.

In addition to these scattered seats, there is seating space available on the fourth floor, in the conference rooms, and at the carels that fold out from the wall. These are almost never used, she said.

The library will continue to take a count of studiers, at several times during each day until November 11, Miss Porritt said. At that time, they will compare figures with Lamont's staff, who are conducting a parallel study to determine the feasibility of admitting women. Together, they will attempt to come to a common solution of the library problem.

The Hilles staff is also considering recent complaints about the open reserve system, Miss Porritt added. They cannot, however, make an actual count of the demand for books, because the books are never checked out during the day. But they have noticed that the Harvard undergraduates who study there at night use very few reserve books.

Two weeks ago, a group of Cliffies petitioned the Radcliffe Government Association to restrict men to the first and fourth floors only, after 6 p.m. As RGA tabled the proposal until the middle of December, Miss Porritt noted that there was no need to determine solutions for a problem that no one was sure existed.

This is still her position. Hilles is a novelty, she maintains, and needs time for a "trial cruise." "--Wait for the first snowstorm to see what happens to the crowd," she says. At any rate, until the study is completed next week, there is no pressing need to find a solution.