NINE O'CLOCK MARATHON

At nine o'clock every morning except Sunday a herd of scholars scampers hastily up the steps of Widener Library, swishes through the turnstiles, rounds the marble stairways in stride, and finally deposits an overnight book on the Reading Room desk. The return journey is completed with equal haste, minus a few tedious and precious minutes while the unsmiling book inspector carefully Philo Vances every brief case, lawyers bag, and simple booksatchel. Such expenditure of energy and valuable pre-nine-o'clock time is not only highly inconvenient but unnecessary.

A moderately sized table, attended by one of Mr. Mahady's faithful cohorts to insure the safety of the University's property, and placed between the main door and the turnstiles would adequately solve the problem. By permitting overnight books to be returned at such a table the library would render the students a real service as well as relieve the book inspector of considerable trifling in the early morning hours. The maximum time an attendant would have to be on duty is thirty minutes. This small reform is worthwhile and would require little effort.