"I think if you haven't had any real connection with the school, the assumption is that you won't be able to use any of its resources. In Cambridge it's generally known that you have to fight your way into Harvard facilities," Gregory said.

Even some Cambridge City Council members were surprised to hear of Widener's access policy.

Councillor Kathleen L. Born said she had no specific knowledge of the arrangement and assumed the reference room was open to the general public.

But Councillor Michael A. Sullivan, who was also unaware of the policy, assumed the opposite.

"I knew they had strict policies regarding use and didn't think they let anyone in at all," he said. "They must not publicize this very widely."

Brainard said the University worked with the Cambridge community to let citydwellers know about the change in policy. ButSidney Verba '53, the director of Harvard'sLibrary system, said he was not surprised to hearthat Cambridge residents were unaware of thearrangement.

"Widener is not a community public library," hesaid.

Brainard and Verba agree that Widener's primaryresponsibility is to serve the Harvard community,and that it can best do so by preventing possiblydisruptive outsiders from entering.

"Universities don't have open libraries,"Brainard said. "Their mission is to serve thefaculty, students and visiting scholars andfulfill their research needs."

While few would dispute that Widener should dowhat it can to serve its community best, there isdisagreement over which community that should be.

Assistant Professor of Public Policy L. JeanCamp, who works on electronic civil liberties atthe Kennedy School of Government, said Harvard isdefining "community" in the narrowest sensepossible.

Pointing out that in the current informationage, access to information resources can oftenseparate the "haves" from the "have-nots," Campsaid she felt anyone with a research purposeshould be allowed in to use the library'sreference area. The University library system has,for example, expensive databases often unavailablein public facilities.

Camp admitted that Widener's access policy isstandard among university libraries but said shefelt that was no excuse.

"Harvard sets the standards for academicpractices and behaviors and therefore it matterswhat Harvard does," she said.

Camp is not the only one to argue thatWidener--the largest library in the world'slargest university library system--has a widerresponsibility than it currently acknowledges.

Ann Vollman Bible, a graduate student at MITwho is taking classes at Harvard, used to live inBoston and, while unaffiliated with theUniversity, frequently used the Widenerreferences.