Students Plan Poll on JFK Library

A student-conducted survey of attitudes of Cambridge citizens towards the proposed John F. Kennedy Library will begin Friday as part of a course in analytical techniques, a professor at the Graduate School of Design said yesterday.

The purpose of the study is pedagogical, assistant professor William McAuliffe of the Graduate School of Design's Department of City and Regional Planning, said yesterday. McAuliffe is research director of the project.

"We realize that there is a political issue involved but the purpose of our course is to give students empirical experience in the application of statistics," McAuliffe said.

Six hundred Cambridge residents will receive a detailed questionnaire about their attitudes to possible parking problems, traffic congestion, rent increases and proliferation of fast food restaurants.

Weighted Responses

In correlating the survey results the computer will give more weight to the responses of residents near the site of the proposed library.

The former city manager, John H. Corcoran, has approved the survey and each interviewer will carry a letter of introduction from the city, Joshua Prager, a first-year Design School student and the student in charge of publicity, said he hoped to meet with the new manager, James L. Sullivan, within the next few days.

Warren Brown, a student who helped design the questionnaire, said the survey results could affect the final design of the library. "Recent changes of design by the architect indicate that nothing in the plans has been finalized," he said.

Visit from Maguire

A representative from C.E. Maguire, the firm conducting an environmental impact study of the library, visited McAuliffe last week to discuss the questionnaire.

"The Maguire representative made it clear that he did not want to influence our questionnaire. He just wanted to know what was on it," McAuliffe said.