After Criticism -- Silence

Now, three months later, very little has come from the criticisms that arose during the Fall book shortage. Members of the Harvard Undergraduate Council have met once with Coop officials, and have promised to draft a letter to professors explaining the students' stake in the Coop's problems.

But Coop officials themselves have not done much more. Although they expect almost all Spring term books to be on the shelves by Feb. 7, they admit this is mostly due to the ease with which professors can be reached during the winter and is not a sign that a large textbook shortage can be prevented this Fall.

For such a sign Coop officials are looking to Arnold H. Swenson, formerly associate director of the Columbia University bookstore and an executive at the Columbia store since 1941. When he became Coop book director last month, Swenson said he was confident that enough could be done by this Fall to rule out the possibility of a shortage -- without any radical changes in the present textbook department.

This is an important point, because the Coop -- despite its expansion along Palmer Street -- is not in a position to finance any expensive addition to its facilities or overhaul of its procedures in the near future. Its net income dropped slightly last year for the second time in a row, despite a rise in sales., This was due to the cost of constructing a new store at M.I.T. And soon the Coop will have to start paying for the Palmer Street annex.

The annex itself is not expected to add much to the Coop's net income. Scheduled for completion this spring, it will house general and reference books on the ground floor, paperbacks and records on the second and textbooks on the third, with escalators between floors -- and a freight elevator that may be used by customers during the rush periods at the beginning of each term. Coop officials are sure the annex will bring an increase in sales, but that the extra money will be needed to pay its operating costs.

"What we want to do now is try to hold the status quo on the patron age refund and not put much money into expansion," Morrill explained. Even so, he admitted, there may have to be serious consideration this March of a one per cent cut in the present refund rate of eight per cent on charge purchases and ten per cent on cash.

But Swenson believes he has an answer to the problem of textbook shortages that may cost absolutely nothing. "I did all my work at Columbia by personal contact," he says. "I knew the professors and the department heads and they trusted me. That's what I have to achieve here."

Personal contact is the way Swenson hopes to win agreement and enthusiasm for the proposals that he is now considering:

* A joint Faculty-Coop committee chaired by a professor or Dean, that might also include some students and the Registrar. Its members could, for example, talk about Coop deadlines at Faculty meetings or voice Faculty complaints to the Coop. A similar committee was recently set up at Yale.

* An agreement with the Registrar's office to ensure that course enrollment figures are sent to the Coop early in the term.

* A single reading list form that Lamont, Radcliffe Library and the Coop could send jointly to professors.

Attempting to achieve any of these proposals will be a test for Swenson. He will not only have to describe the Coop's textbook problems to professors, but also explain why the Coop has done so little about them in the past. "Something must be wrong," a professor whose reading list arrived at the Coop Sept. 16 said last Fall. "I did the same thing this year I've done every year, and they never complained before."

Swenson's chances of getting early course enrollment figures have gotten worse since the Fall. Registrar Robert Shenton, who took over the post in September, has told the Coop he will now release no figures until the end of each term, and then only by request. The release of the current enrollment in any course is within the discretion of the professor teaching it. Shenton argues, and should not be made by the Registrar.

And Swenson will have to dispel a general impression that all of the Coop's troubles can be tied to its own "inefficiency and chaos," and that its textbook and general book departments are somehow below par.

That is a tall order for Swenson and also for the Coop, which, until recently, had not given the problem much of its attention and is now busy with other matters, including planning for the new annex.

Heaven and Earth

But the Coop has apparently weighed seriously the possible reaction to another textbook shortage, another thousand titles missing. "If we fall down in supplying the essential tools of education, we're really falling down in our job," Morrill said. "I'll move heaven and earth to aoid that.