Cabot Extends Library Hours After Student Recommendation

In response to a request from the Undergraduate Council, Harvard has decided to extend the hours in yet another library.

Cabot, the undergraduate science library, is opening on Sundays at 10:00 a.m., four hours earlier than it did last year. The change, prompted by a recommendation from the council's Student Services Committee, was made at the beginning of the school year.

"This was part of a continuous effort to make it easier for students to study by providing more appropriate library hours," said Douglas Winthrop '86, a member of the committee. "Following up our success in extending the closing hours of Hilles and Lamont, we thought that Cabot Library was a good place to continue."

Last year, the council had helped persuade authorities to keep those other two libraries open an hour later at night.

The committee's proposal contained several suggestions for making Cabot more accessible to students, two of which were opening the library Sunday mornings and keeping the library open later each evening.

Cabot Librarian Alan E. Erickson said he decided on the first plan since it would allow Cabot to be open at a time when the other Harvard libraries were closed. On Sunday, Hilles and Lamont open at noon, while Widener and Pusey are closed all day, making Cabot the only library open from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.

On the Other Hand

On the other hand, because Hilles and Lamont stay open until 1:00 a.m. Monday through Wednesday evenings, Erickson said he did not see the need to extend Cabot's closing time from mid-night to 1:00 a.m.

Erickson said that he has not yet figured out what the additional cost for Cabot's extended hours will be. But he said that he was not too worried because more than 200 people took advantage of the extra hours last Sunday.