The Founder’s Memorial Library staff is in a difficult predicament. Although NIU is trying to expand its library’s capabilities to simplify the search for books, a lack of immediate funds is preventing them from adding enough space to house new materials.

Steve Marquardt, the new library system director, will have to make some decisions about the space problem pretty fast and he doesn’t have much to choose from. In order to make space for the new materials, Marquardt will have to either limit the student study space or move older library materials to an undecided off-campus site

Students seem to be losing more and more study space on this campus because of student and faculty office space problems. The library is the only place students can count on to be quiet enough for studying when they need to escape from noisy residence halls and apartment complexes.

If the study space is decreased the library will only become more crowded—not with too many books, but too many people. Attempting to find study space in the library during mid-terms and finals week is already next to impossible. Every effort should be made to find easily accessed storage space for the less frequently used books.