William Coolidge Lane '81, librarian emeritus, died yesterday in Cambridge after an illness of about a month. Mr. Lane resigned as librarian in 1928, having served the library since the day after his graduation in 1881. In the words of President Lowell, he was "librarian of Harvard for 30 years, to whom scholars are grateful for the accessibility of its vast collections."

With wide and varied college interests, the former librarian was a member of a great number of organizations both inside and outside the University. He was president of the American Library Association, head of the Bibliographical Society of America, chairman of the Library Committee of the Harvard Union, secretary of the Harvard chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.

Briggs Praises Associate

W.B. Briggs, assistant librarian, and for 25 years associated with Mr. Lane, expressed the feelings of the whole library staff when he said: "By one who was in such close touch with him for so long a time, his loss is felt very keenly. He always took a very personal interest in the members of the staff and inspired them to give, their best service."

The late librarian was instrumental in making the library a modern workshop accessible to students and scholars.