In response to the flurry of e-mails, the Currier House Masters held a meeting last night with several students to discuss the decision.

Despite the initial shock of Friday’s announcement, by Sunday evening many Quad students had come to see the potential boons of the new arrangement.

Many residents contacted yesterday said that if the renovated space succeeds in attracting more student activity up Garden Street, the loss of most of Hilles may be justified.

“If they can assure that without drastically and negatively impacting study space and the collection, then we’re all for it,” Whitmire said. “There is a balance they have to maintain,”

And in an e-mail sent out to the list-serves of the three Quad houses Saturday, Undergraduate Council President Rohit Chopra ’04 expressed what he saw as the pros and cons of the Hilles decision.

While expressing sympathy for the employees at Hilles, Chopra’s e-mail pointed to the possible gain of student space and the latent potential for a revitalized Quad life.

Chopra also said he will set up a special Council committee to outline a plan for the future of the vacated space in Hilles.

Gross says that, rather than draining the Quad of its resources, the move will open up more space for Quadlings and potentially bring more activity to the area.

Libraries at a Loss

Budget concerns and declines in student usage of Hilles were the primary reasons for the decision to surrender much of the building to student activity use, library officials said Friday.

“In the course of our deliberations over the budget, we came to the conclusion that we can’t sustain the level of duplication we have at Hilles,” said Nancy Cline, head of HCL. “Usage has dropped, and from a budget perspective, it makes sense to make room for other student activities there.”

Most of the books in Hilles will either be sold or relocated within HCL in the next two years as the library’s presence drops to one floor of the building. The same will be the case for the 20 or so Hilles employees, who were informed of the news at a meeting Cline held for Hilles and Lamont staff on Friday morning.

Besides budgetary concerns, Cline says that use of Hilles has declined slowly over the years as students have turned increasingly to online resources and Lamont. While no “absolute data” were available, Cline estimates that Lamont has three times the usage of Hilles.

Part of the phasing out of Hilles is a large-scale renovation of Lamont Library, made possible by a $1 million grant to rebuild the fifth floor reading room.

Cline declined to name the donor on Sunday.