Students Protest Removal Of Hilles Science Books

About 100 students last night protested the transfer of Hilles Library's entire science collection to the Undergraduate Science Center.

Louis E. Martin, librarian of Harvard College, Alan E. Erickson, science specialist in the University Library, and Ruth K. Porritt, librarian of Hilles, fielded the complaints lodged by the students, most of whom were Radcliffe Quadrangle residents, at the Currier House Fishbowl.

Martin, who said that he "understood" some of the student complaints, promised that he would consult representatives of the Radcliffe Houses regarding an "appropriate" course of action and would respond "very very quickly on this matter."

Prior to the Currier House meeting the ad hoc committee to bring science books back to Hilles collected 500 signatures from students dining in Currier House.

The committee will continue to petition support for the next few days during dining hours at the other Quadrangle Houses.

Martin--who emphasized that he came to Harvard as College librarian after the transfer of volumes to the science center had been approved--said that he favored the purchase of new books for Hilles to fill the holes left by the move.

He said that this course was preferable to "weakening the science center" by returning the books taken from Hilles.

Erickson argued that the return of the books to Hilles would "destroy the Science Center library." Martin stressed that the transfer of books from Hilles, Lamont and Widner was done to stock a science library that "could not be equaled by either Lamont or Hilles," and that a "great deal of care was taken to minimize" the inconvenience to students.

He said that the cost of returning the books would be prohibitive.

But Martin--faced with student rebuttals that the move has seriously inconvenienced science concentrators who are Radcliffe residents as well as non-science concentrators who might otherwise browse the science collection of a liberal arts library--said that the removal of books from Hilles "does not preclude" the maintenance of some basic science reference volumes at the Quad library.

He conceded that "it is possible that when they [the University Librarian and the College advisory board] planned the science center [library] they never considered Radcliffe."

Both Martin and Erickson emphasized that decentralization of library resources had posed economic problems to Harvard, although Erikson said that there is an overlap of volumes previously housed in Lamont and Hilles.

Erickson said that the science center holds reserve materials for 84 courses, while last semester Lamont's reserved shelves housed readings for only 35 courses.

But students at last night's meeting said that they were likely to use the science center library less often than they had Hilles, and that they saw no reason why duplicate titles could not be returned to Hilles.

Several students argued that the exceptionally large percentage of science concentrators living at Radcliffe--36 per cent of Currier House alone--made the transfer of books from Hilles unjustifiable.

But many non-science concentrators complained that the transfer also inhibits interdisciplinary work that requires research in both science and non-science volumes, and that Hilles has been weakened as an undergraduate liberal-arts library by the lack of breadth in its collection.

Some students charged that Quad residents have been deprived of anything resembling a House library.

R. Paul Levine, professor of Biology and Co-Master of Currier House, said that requests for funds for Radcliffe House libraries have always received responses that there is no money for Radcliffe since Hilles functions as a House library for the three Quad Houses.

George Wald, Higgins Professor of Biology, said that the science faculty had not been consulted about the transfer of volumes from Hilles, and he added that a random poll of science faculty would show that "they are all very dismayed."

"My dear sir," Wald said, addressing Martin, "that [not consulting faculty or students] is the story of the whole science center.