Library Officials Hit Illegal Use of Lamont

Paul H. Buck, Director of the University Library, charged yesterday that students from other colleges were illegally using Lamont Library as a "day-to-day" library. He indicated that he University may have to take action "to stop outsiders from displacing Harvard students."

Students from other colleges in the Boston area are taking advantage of Lamont's facilities in spite of the rule limiting use of the library to members of the University, Buck said. While this illegal use has not created any great crowding problems so far this term, "there may be a crisis during Reading Period," he predicted.

According to Buck, the difficulty lies in trying to find a solution which will protect Harvard students without inconveniencing them.

"During mid-years, there were people asking for bursar's cards in the first-level smoking rom," William B. Ernst, Jr., Assistant Librarian for Undergraduate Services, commented, "but the checking had to be done often, and it got annoying."

Policing May Be Necessary

Both Buck and Ernst are reluctant to initiate a system for checking bursar's cards at the library's entrances, preferring to "discourage" obvious interlopers. However, Ernst said, some sort of policing may soon become necessary, if matters got worse.

An allied problem is that of Harvard men who take books out of Lamont for students, mostly girls, at other institutions. One librarian observed, "There is nothing we can do about this, unless the student has his girl along."

Ernst, nothing that reserve books, atleast, are relatively safe from the practice because of steep fines, called this problem "something we have to live with."

He cited another library problem which is created by students who hold on to books too long, either by keeping them when they are past due or by hiding them within the building.