The appointment of a new poetry curator has run into some politics, though some are loath to use the word.

"Politics may be too intense," says English Department Chair Lawrence Buell. "Procedural complications, maybe?"

When the poetry room was established in 1939, it had the status of a special department of the University library. But since that time, it has been transferred between different departments of the library system several times. During Haviaras' tenure it was first an independent department, then a part of the collections development department, and then an independent department again.

Now with Haviaras' retirement, the room has been transferred once again, this time to Houghton Library, a move that has raised the eyebrows of some Cambridge literati.

Biographer and essayist Justin Kaplan, who is a long-time associate of Haviaras, said that Houghton needs to respect the poetry room as more than a book nook.

"It's a very important institution and not just a bunch of books in the Harvard library," he says. "It acts as a community for the whole poetry establishment."

Library officials, however, say the Houghton transfer will only enrich the room as an institution, enabling the poetry curator to be a part of the team of people working with contemporary writing.

"It was thought that this new curator of poetry...might be able to join people in Houghton who are thinking about contemporary writing," says Bill P. Stoneman, Librarian of Houghton. "[The new curator] could help us develop an awareness of what people are doing."