The Harvard Guide, a multipurpose guidebook to the University published by the Office of News and Public Affairs, is now available through the Harvard Information Center in Holyoke Center. The Guide's 128 pages include:

* General information about arts, cultural, and sporting events.

* Short profiles of the University's deans and top academic officers.

* More than 100 photographs of Harvard professors, students, well-known graduates, and famous visitors.

* Maps directing visitors to locations in and around the Yard.

* Short, personal profiles of Harvard's 34 Nobel Prize-winning faculty members.

* An academic calendar.

* A brief history of Harvard.

* Phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and Web page addresses for many of the University's major cultural institutions.

* Lots of interesting and quirky historical facts. Did you know, for example, that Harvard student Theodore Roosevelt kept a small zoo in his room consisting of lobsters, snakes, and a huge tortoise?

Though The Guide was written for the visitor, it is anticipated that it will have other uses, such as recruitment and reference, as well as dissemination of general information about the University.

Drawing on the informative strengths of the former Facts & Figures booklet, which is no longer being produced, The Harvard Guide is designed to be a kind of Guide Michelin to Harvard -- full of the kind of information, maps, and insights that will make a visit to the University more interesting -- or even help staff and faculty to understand the place better.

The publication marks an effort within the Office of News and Public Affairs to make even greater efforts at publicly affirming Harvard's contributions to learning, society, history, and our culture.

An advertisement on page 10 of this Gazette gives information about ordering The Guide.