Worse, the centers encourage heterosexuals and white people to consider themselves exempt from critically examining topics like sexuality and race; rather than encouraging such study, the centers ghettoize it. In fact, the library as a whole is itself the most appropriate African American Center, the ideal Gay and Lesbian Center; the best place for readers of any race or ethnicity or sexual orientation seeking to broaden their knowledge and their perspective on the world. The actual users of the Main Library are an eloquent confirmation of that fact. On a weekday afternoon they sprawl on the expensive chairs and sit at the wired wooden desks, reading contentedly, together in the stacks. As a symbol of diversity, a homeless man and a suburban teenager sitting next to each other absorbed in books beat hands down an officially sponsored reading room, however attractively wood-paneled.

A San Francisco Public Library brochure quotes the head city librarian: "Modern libraries are becoming much-needed community centers for people." No doubt community centers are fine things, but libraries already have a job to play. The Main Library should take a page from Widener: Forget fancy atriums and identity politics. The chain-link fences don't matter. The library should be a home for books; the architecture will take care of itself.

Adam A. Sofen '01, a Crimson executive, is a history and literature concentrator in Pforzheimer House. This summer he is writing greeting cards and gift books in Berkeley, Calif.