IBM Machines Replacing Girls

Men waiting to check out books in Widener will soon have fewer girls to watch behind the call desk.

Yielding to automation, the library administration will replace its manually-operated circulation file with a set of IBM machines next June.

The new equipment will make possible the maintenance of two files on checked out books, one for information, the other for handling returned books and sending over-due notices. The set will consist of a collator, a sorter, two key punches, a verifier, and a reproducing punch, all operated by two or three people.

Increasing use of Widener has meant breakdowns in the circulation department's present manual filing system that couldn't be solved, according to Paul H. Buck, director of the University Library, even by doubling the number of young women who do the routine work.

The over-all size of the library staff, however, should not decrease with the advent of the machines. "It will just grow less rapidly than it has been growing," commented Buck. He noted that the filing staff has an extremely high rate of turn-over, with the young women employed there advancing to higher positions or leaving the University.