Time and Lamont

It is axiomatic that Lamont is bare for three fall months and then densely populated for a few weeks at the end of the term. Library officials recognize this fact and the student is painfully aware of it. Equally established a truth is the student's annoyance with the 10 p.m. closing hour. Working from these two premises, once could expect a logical conclusion from Lamont officials. For five years, this conclusion has not been forthcoming; Lamont retains its early closing time and hustles the student out at 9:50 p.m. with buzzers and darkness.

The contrast with Princeton's Firestone Library should be a little embarrassing to local librarians. Princetonians can study undisturbed until 12:00 midnight every week night. And, though Lamont officials claim these extended hours would be disastrous financially, Princeton has found little extra expense. The Nassau equivalent of Desk Three is closed at 10 p.m. So that only the expense of a checker at the door adds to operating costs. These extra few dollars are well justified by the increased convenience to students. And while Lamont can point to the House libraries which are open until midnight, during the exam period they are overcrowded. There is also a great nuisance value in dragging books from Lamont to Eliot House for an hour or two of study.

If library officers do not think that student need warrants a permanent extension of hours, they cannot deny that it would be welcome during reading and exam period. At the beginning of the next term, the hours' change could be provisional, depending on the number who continue to study past 10 p.m. For the crowded, hectic weeks ahead at Lamont, however, the extension would be a necessary boon to the undergraduate.