Once, the idea for a John F. Kennedy Library was young, much like Kennedy himself. Now it is old, an idea whose time has come and gone.

Yet the library's troops--the architects, administrators, and curators--display an uncanny loyalty to the dream that has been marred by ten years of delays.

The pro-Kennedy Library forces are gathering for the premier battle to be fought next year in the halls of the federal government. Every aspiration is pinned on the federal environmental impact statement, destined to show whether or not the library would adversely affect Harvard Square.

On Monday, the General Services Administration (GSA) issued a revised outline for the environmental statement, incorporating almost point by point recommendations made by the Harvard Square Task Force. The task force had complained that the original report was biased, and ignored the impact of the tourist-drawing museum.

If the government's study produces a negative report, the library will be squelched forever, forsaken as outdated. Yet if the study yields a positive report next September, the battle may switch to the courts as embittered community groups find ways to stop the construction.

But for the next nine months interest will shift to the GSA, which, if recent indications are true, will listen to the community's complaints and conduct a fair examination of the proposed library.