STORMING THE STACKS

Members of courses which require a considerable amount of outside reading, often experience great difficulty in obtaining the necessary books. In many cases the desired volumes are out of print or at least not readily obtained at the Cooperative store; in others, prices are so high as to be prohibitive. In desperation the student turns to the library, only to find that every copy of the book is out,--usually returnable on some date after the reading is due. Under such difficulties it is little wonder that he sometimes does his work by proxy or neglects it altogether.

Measures ought to be taken to assure a more efficient use of the library's equipment. As matters stand at present, the first man to reach Widener after the reading is assigned gets the book; the rest of the course must do without it. Occasionally one sees undergraduates taking the same course engaged in what reduced to its simplest terms is nothing more than a race to the Catalogue. Some instructors have already met the difficulty by reserving all copies of the selected works for the general reading room before announcing the reading: this practice should be generally adopted.

When professors postpone reservation until after the announcement is made, they are at best driven to the tedious expedient of having recall-cards mailed to student borrowers. Unless at the time of the assignment reading matter is available for use by the entire class, the majority of the course must labor under a serious disadvantage. The student finds difficulties enough in his academic work without being hampered by the mechanical task of book-hunting.