Students accustomed to studying on the first level of Lamont Library will now find it more difficult to do so.

A reception yesterday, attended by 50 people, marked the grand opening of the new Government Documents department of Lamont Library in what used to be study space on the first level. The old Gov Docs section had been relocated to the basement of the library.

New features of Gov Docs will include free student use of the NEXIS information-retrieval system, access to up-to-date government documents through Internet, free demonstration projects, and an expanded reference service.

Diane L. Garner, head of the Government Documents division, said there has been concern among library officials and students about the loss of an entire floor of study space.

Garner added that some new space had been made available for studying in the basement, where the bulk of the Gov Docs stacks are still located.

"The balance clearly came out in favor of moving the Gov Docs upstairs," she said.

Garner said the move was prompted primarily by space constraints in the basement and the fact that more government documents are now coming out in electronic form. Lamont will become "more and more an electronic library," Garner said.

Both Garner and Richard De Gennaro, Larsen Librarian of Harvard College, said the move had been under consideration for at least three years. The move was funded in part through the regular budget for equipment purchase and in part through capital funds available to the library, he said.