POINT 3. Stack space. I have always been skeptical of the argument that Widener does not have enough space to house its books, simply because every time I go there I see rows and rows of empty shelves.
On the other hand, I recognize that keeping three million volumes in their proper places is as tricky as it sounds. And my sources in the library tell me that the space shortage--at least in certain areas of Widener--is getting out of hand.
"There are places in Widener where you can no longer shelve," one librarian told me recently. "We're going to have to put some stuff on the floor."
Nonetheless, I strongly suspect that Widener does not suffer so much from a space problem as from an allocation of space problem. Anyone who has ever threaded the tortuous subterranean path from Widener to Pusey knows that the library system contains many empty corridors which could conceivably house books.
New space, of course, gets filled up as fast as you can find it. I doubt that there is any way to solve the space problem permanently--short of the construction of a major new library. But until that day arrives, I have a plan.
Anyone who has spent more than a week here knows that Harvard operates on the RHIP principle--here, as in any large organization, Rank Hath Its Privileges. One consequence of this policy is that senior faculty members are eligible to receive "studies"--Harvardspeak for small offices--in Widener and Pusey.
According to my survey of the library's 1991 index and telephone directory--which I understand is slightly out of date--80 of the 115 studies in Widener and Pusey are occupied by faculty members who have offices elsewhere. At least 18 of those people have two or more offices elsewhere. Twelve of the 115 are emeritus professors.
Getting a study in Widener is a definite perk. Rumor has it that there is an 18-month waiting list. But significant numbers of people--graduates, junior faculty and so on--do manage to conduct significant research without recourse to a study.
Hence I have a modest proposal to end--at least for the time being--the space shortage: convert the studies into shelf space. When the University finds a more long-term solution--such as an expansion of Pusey or the construction of a new library, it can build a lot of nice new faculty offices as part of the plan. In the meantime, no one will have to be turned out in the street. It's a crazy idea, but it just might work.
Library administrators are skeptical of my plan. "It would not help one little bit," Richard De Gennaro, the Larsen Librarian of Harvard College, told me recently. De Gennaro has quite sensibly argued that the only solution is to keep moving books into the off-campus depository.
But even if it wouldn't help the space shortage, the Hoffman plan might boost morale on campus. Everyone would share equally in the weirdness that is Widener. I for one would find it much easier to cope with the libraries if I knew they made the most espected professors at the University as miserable as they make me.
After all, isn't that what libraries are for?
Harvard's library system makes no sense. It's time for some change.