ASKING FOR AN EXTENSION

Past student-led efforts to extend Lamont’s hours have not succeeded.

In 2001, the council passed a resolution that called for HCL to provide a suitable late-night studying environment for undergraduates.

“But nothing happened after that,” Council President Matthew W. Mahan ’05 says. “This has been an issue that comes up pretty much every year.”

“The problem has always been on the implementation side,” he adds. “At the end of the day, this is going to come down to a budget issue.”

Several students studying in Lamont late at night before winter break generally supported extending Lamont’s hours.

“Lamont should be open for 24 hours because it’s the only place where I don’t fall asleep when I’m studying,” says Anthony L. Johnson ’08.

But Ada M. McMahon ’06 has some reservations about a 24-hour library.

“It would be great for students,” she affirms, “but Harvard students tend to get carried away about what is best for them without considering the consequences for the employees.”

Extending Lamont’s hours would require increased staffing and security, in addition to higher maintenance bills, according to Beth Brainard, director of communications for HCL.

“But the matter is under consideration,” she adds. “It would not be an impossible thing to do.”

Brainard cites as evidence of HCL’s concern for student welfare the renovations of the third and fifth floors of Lamont, as well as the recently completed $92-million renovation of Widener Library.

Library officials declined to comment on the cost of extending Lamont’s hours. But HCL has also been facing budget problems since early 2002, when Larsen Librarian of Harvard College Nancy M. Cline asked the organization’s component libraries to reduce their budgets by 5 percent during the 2002-2003 fiscal year, according to HCL’s annual report.

And Associate Librarian of Harvard College Lynda Leahy says that even keeping Lamont’s ground floor open all night would be difficult.

“Lamont is not designed for extended-hours use of the [third] floor,” she says. “The building really can’t be segmented off.”