"Right now perhaps 20 percent or more of the books I need are already in one of the depositories," Fernandez-Sifuentes says.

And the chair of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures says a day or two of waiting for a book is sometimes unmanageable. "We work very tight schedules," he says. "We sometimes need it immediately."

In addition, Fernandez-Sifuentes says, "the new technology is not going as fast as the actual changes in the stacks."

The book listings of HOLLIS, he says, don't always provide all of the information they should.

And many faculty members also say the removal of books from the stacks will mean an end to browsing, and a further limit to resource accessibility. By wandering through the stacks, they say, scholars can find sources they wouldn't otherwise locate on an on-line catalog system.

Shifting People

De Gennaro's changes have not been restricted to books. In addition, the librarian has shifted people and departments, bringing sweeping administrative changes to a once-stagnant library.

For example, De Gennaro consolidated the library's three area studies departments--Judaica, Slavic and Middle Eastern--into a single department headed by Charles Berlin, formerly director of the Judaica section.

David Partington, director of the Middle Eastern division, says he oversees what may be the world's largest collection of Islamic material.

Now, Partington says, the policies he makes for his collection are subject to review by a Jewish scholar. "This is an interesting situation, politically and intellectually," Partington says.

While the situation could potentially affect fundraising for his collection, Partingon says that in fact he has actually seen an increase in donations to the library since De Gennaro took over.

Partington says he sees signs that "the changes Mr. De Gennaro is putting into effect are having a positive effect on our efficiency."

The departments are also under stricter control, Partington says, to follow through on the priorities De Gennaro has set.

"What has happened here," Partington says. "is a sort of change in the urgency of making our materials immediately accessible to scholars."

In De Gennaro's career, his former co-workers say, such moves--administrative consolidation, restructuring of staff positions--have not been unusual.