Word: lamont
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Distribution of required texts may be the library's basic concern, but its ambitions go much further. Lamont is already working with the aural end of education, and plans to do more. On the fifth level lies what is perhaps the library's greatest showpiece: the Woodberry Poetry Room. Here, surrounded by the supreme effort of Lamont's interior decorators, is the library's fast-growing collection of records and tapes--covering quite completely the fields of ballad and verse, with a good number of dramatic readings thrown in. The tape collection, as yet uncatalogued, includes a number of lectures...
Nevertheless, McNiff likes his Glass Palace. His highest praise for it is this: "If the library staff were to start over from scratch with the experience of the last five years, we would make only minor changes." As far as its staff is concerned, Lamont seems to have passed the test of time as well as was expected--which was very well indeed...
...undergraduate too, Lamont seems to have proven its worth. Not only has it made for itself a secure and prominent place in his mythology, but it has captured--either through its charm or more likely through its necessity--his statistical approval. Although McNiff belittles the importance of circulation figures in a library where books can be taken from the shelves, read, and replaced without anyone being the wiser, he does have records where records can be kept. They are impressive...
...this year was early in December when only 951 books crossed the reserve desk. In the month of November 22,000 books went into outside circulation, as compared with 20,000 the previous year. Despite his lack of concern for figures, McNiff displays suitable pride in the fact that Lamont has done more business this year than ever before, and hopes to do more still by expanding its services and attractions...
Another of his ambitions in the field of sound is to set up a freshman record library under the supervision of the Lamont staff, since freshmen have no access to House musical libraries. Already under way, although not as popular as he had hoped, are Friday symphony hours in the fifth level Forum Room. Here an FM radio is available each Friday afternoon for listening to the efforts of Boston's highly-touted symphony. Groups of listeners have been small to date, but McNiff intends to continue the practice with a little more publicity...