Lamont to Close for Summer For Reshuffling of Stack Code

After almost a decade of complaints, Lamont Library will convert to a more modern classification system this summer, a change that will force the library to close for the summer's duration.

Lamont's present variation on the Dewey Decimal system will be replaced by the more modern Library of Congress classification scheme, Theodore G. Alevizos, Lamont librarian, said yesterday.

Alevizos said that Lamont's closing will force summer school students to use Widener Library. Any inconvenience caused by having to wade through Widener's millions of volumes will be balanced by Widener's longer summer hours, he said.

Alevizos said he realized that Lamont was plagued by an outdated system when he first came to the library in 1964. The system, which does not extend beyond one decimal, cannot adequately classify the broad scope of today's material, he explained.

"The present scheme was devised for a 19th century conception of knowledge," Alevizos said.

Alevizos said that books are hard to find on the shelves because a single classification number often covers a vast number of books of different subjects. "There are hundreds of books by Shakespeare and just as many about Shakespeare, but they are all listed under the one number 847."

The Library of Congress classification is more expansive and will allow specific subjects to carry their own numbers, Alevizos said.

Alevizos said that in the past few years both students and the library staff have complained about the system, but change has been slow in coming.

Approval of the code change was granted by Louis E. Martin, head librarian, who is in his first year on the job.