Chapter IV: Front Matter (4)

When dry-goods stores and clothing stores bought these special lines and retailed them at or below the cost price, in _contrast to the list price_ asked in the special furnishing stores, in order to attract customers to their stores because of their wonderful "bargain counters," the manufacturers realized that the dry-goods stores were simply using up these wares to advertise their other business. They cut off the supply of their goods to these price-cutting dry-goods stores, and refused to supply any more goods, except under a substantial undertaking on the part of the dry-goods stores to maintain the full list price.

This, in a word, is the substance of the publishers' plan. They have agreed to cut off absolutely the supply of all of their books, net, copyrighted and otherwise, to any dealer who cuts the retail price of a book published under the net-price system.

On the other hand, the nearly eight hundred members of the American Booksellers' Association have entered into a mutual agreement to push with energy the sale of the books of all publishers who co-operate with them for the maintenance of retail prices, and not to buy, nor put in stock, nor offer for sale, the books of any publisher who fails to co-operate with them. This is substantially the same system that was adopted in Germany in 1887, in France a few years later, and in England in 1900.

The effect of this system in Germany has been to lift up the trade from a condition even more deplorable, if possible, than that into which it has fallen in this country, and to make it a prosperous and profitable business. It has proved beneficent and satisfactory, not only to dealers and publishers, but also to authors and to the reading public, for every city, town and village in Germany now sustains a book shop that carries a fairly representative stock of books, so that the people are able to examine promptly every book as soon as it comes from the press, and the authors are sure of having their books promptly submitted to the examination of every possible purchaser.

The results in France and England are equally encouraging, and it is believed that as soon as the American system is fully understood, and as soon as enough books are included under the net-price system, so that a bookseller can once more make a living on the sale of books, many of the old-time booksellers will again put in a stock of books and help to re-establish the book trade in America.

Having tried to define the present relation of publishers and booksellers, I beg leave to say frankly that I know of no reason why publishers and booksellers should maintain any different relations with librarians than they maintain with any other retail customers.

For example, let us take the new "Book-Lovers' Library," so called. Their plan is to sell memberships, and to deliver to each member one book a week for five dollars a year, or three books a week for ten dollars a year. They take up the books at the end of each week and supply new ones.

If this plan could be carried out successfully, it would result in making one book do the service now performed by ten or fifteen books. In other words, this circulating library proposes to furnish its members with ten or fifteen books for the same amount of money they now pay for one book by simply passing the book around from one to another.

The effect of this scheme, if carried into all cities and towns as proposed, would be to reduce the number of books manufactured and sold to about _one-tenth_ of its present magnitude. From a business point of view, publishers and dealers cannot be called upon to make special discounts to encourage such an enterprise.

The encouragement and support given to authors, by patrons of literature, would be reduced by this scheme to about one-tenth of the present amount. The effect of this withdrawal of support to American authors can easily be imagined.

But I do not believe that real book-lovers, intelligent and conservative readers, will be carried away by this passing craze. On the contrary, they have studiously avoided forming that careless, slip-shod habit of reading that characterizes patrons of circulating libraries. The real book-lover selects his books like his friends, with caution, and with discriminating and painstaking care.

From a bookseller's point of view, the "Book-Lovers' Library" is not founded on practical lines. However, as the plan also includes the selling of capital stocks to its patrons, it is probable that the money received from subscriptions, together with the annual membership fees, will be sufficient to keep the enterprise going for some time. But since this is a corporation organized for the purpose of making money, a failure to earn money and to pay dividends will discourage its patrons, cause them to feel that they have been deceived, and finally to withdraw from membership. When the members realize that they are paying five or ten dollars a year for privileges that can be had free at the local library, in most cases they will withdraw their support.

Thus, while in some respects I regard this enterprise as an evil factor, it contains, I think, inherent weaknesses that will finally compass its own end.

But what is said of the relation of publishers and dealers to the Book-Lovers' Library is true in a measure of all circulating and other public libraries. They do not increase, but they positively contract the number of sales that are made in the interest of authors, publishers and dealers.

Under the German system, of which I have spoken, public libraries were at first allowed ten per cent. discount; but recently this has been reduced to five per cent.

Under the English system, profiting by the experience of German publishers, no discount is allowed to public libraries, schools or institutions.

The American system, however, is modelled largely after the German, and it permits the dealers to allow a discount of ten per cent. to local libraries. In doing this local dealers are protected from competition by the publishers, in that the publishers have agreed to add to the net price the cost of transportation on all books sold at retail outside of the cities in which they are doing business. Thus public libraries can buy net books cheaper of the local booksellers than they can buy them of the publishers by just the cost of transportation.

LIBRARY BUILDINGS.

BY W. R. EASTMAN, _New York State Library, Albany, N. Y._

A building is not the first requisite of a public library. A good collection of books with a capable librarian will be of great service in a hired room or in one corner of a store. First the librarian, then the books and after that the building.

But when the building is occupied the value of the library is doubled. The item of rent is dropped. The library is no longer dependent on the favor of some other institution and is not cramped by the effort to include two or three departments in a single room. It will not only give far better service to the community, but will command their respect, interest and support to a greater degree than before.

The following hints are intended as a reply to many library boards who are asking for building plans.

The vital point in successful building is to group all the parts of a modern library in their true relations. To understand a particular case it will be necessary to ask some preliminary questions.

1. _Books._
Number of volumes in library?
Average yearly increase?
Number of volumes in 20 years?
Number of volumes to go in reference room?
Number of volumes to go in children's room?
Number of volumes to go in other departments?
Number of volumes to go in main book room?
If the library is large will there be an open shelf room separate from
the main book room?
Is a stack needed?
Will public access to the shelves be allowed?

By answers to such questions a fair idea of the character and size of the book room may be obtained.

_Rules for calculation._ In a popular library, outside the reference room, for each foot of wall space available 80 books can be placed on eight shelves. Floor cases having two sides will hold 160 books for each running foot, and in a close stack 25 books, approximately, can be shelved for each square foot of floor space. But the latter rule will be materially modified by ledges, varying width of passages, stairs, etc.

The above figures give full capacity. In practical work, to provide for convenient classification, expansion, oversized books and working facilities, the shelves of a library should be sufficient for twice the actual number of books and the lines of future enlargement should be fully determined.

2. _Departments._
Is the library for free circulation?
Is the library for free reference?
Are special rooms needed for
high school students?
children?
ladies?
magazine readers?
newspaper readers?
How many square feet for each of the above rooms?
Are class rooms needed as in a college library?
Club rooms?
Lecture rooms?
Museum?
Art gallery?
Other departments?

3. _Community._
In city or country?
Population?
By what class will library be chiefly used?
School children?
Students?
Mechanics?
Reading circles?
Ladies?

4. _Resources and conditions._
Money available?
Money annually for maintenance?
Size of building lot?
Location and surroundings?
How many stories?
Elevators?
Heat?
Light?
Ventilation?

5. _Administration._
Is library to be in charge of one person?
How many assistants?
Is a work room needed?
unpacking room?
bindery?
librarian's office?
trustees' room?

By careful study of these points a clear conception of the problem is gained and the building committee is prepared to draw an outline sketch indicating in a general way their needs and views. They are not likely to secure what they want by copying or even by competition. The best architects have not the time nor the disposition to compete with each other. A better way is to choose an architect, one who has succeeded in library work if possible, who will faithfully study the special problems, consult freely with the library board, propose plans and change them freely till they are right. And if such plans are also submitted for revision to some librarian of experience or to the library commission of the state, whose business and pleasure it is to give disinterested advice, so much the better.

The following outlines taken from actual library buildings are offered by way of suggestion.

_Square plan._

An inexpensive building for a small country neighborhood may have one square room with book shelves on the side and rear walls. A convenient entrance is from a square porch on one side of the front corner and a librarian's alcove is at the opposite corner leaving the entire front like a store window which may be filled with plants or picture bulletins. With a stone foundation the wooden frame may be finished with stained shingles.

_Oblong plan._

A somewhat larger building may have a wider front with entrance at the center.

Book shelves under high windows may cover the side and rear walls and tables may stand in the open space.

It will be convenient to bring together the books most in demand for circulation on one side of the room and those needed most for study on the opposite side. One corner may contain juvenile books. In this way confusion between readers, borrowers and children will be avoided. Each class of patrons will go by a direct line to its own quarter. This is the beginning of the plan of departments which will be of great importance in the larger building.

The number of books for circulation will increase rapidly and it may soon be necessary to provide double faced floor cases. These will be placed with passages running from the center of the room towards the end and that end will become the book or delivery room and the opposite side will be the study or reference room.

_T-shape plan._

The next step is to add space to the rear giving a third department to the still open room. If the book room is at the back the student readers may be at tables in the right hand space and the children in the space on the left. The librarian at a desk in the center is equally near to all departments and may exercise full supervision.

The presence of a considerable number of other busy persons has a sobering and quieting effect on all and the impression of such a library having all its departments in one is dignified and wholesome. It may be well to separate the departments by light open hand rails, screens, cords or low book cases. It is a mistake to divide a small building into three or four small rooms.

_Separate rooms._

For a larger library these rails must be made into partitions, giving to each department a separate room. Partitions of glass set in wooden frames and possibly only eight feet high may answer an excellent purpose, adding to the impression of extent, admitting light to the interior of the building and allowing some supervision from the center. With partitions on each side, the entrance becomes a central hallway with a department at each side and the book room at the end. This is the best position for the book room for two special reasons. Overlapping the departments in both wings it is equally accessible from either, and at the back of the house a plainer and cheaper wall can be built admitting of easy removal when the growth of the library requires enlargement.

Sometimes the angles between the book room and the main building may be filled to advantage by work room and office. These working rooms though not large and not conspicuous are of vital consequence and should be carefully planned.

We have now reached a type of building which, for lack of a better word, I may call the "butterfly plan," having two spread wings and a body extending to the back. Others call it the "trefoil." This general type is being substantially followed in most new libraries of moderate size. From one entrance hall direct access is given to three distinct departments, or perhaps to five, by placing two rooms in each wing.

_Modifications required by limited space._

If we have an open park to build in we shall be tempted to expand the hallway to a great central court or rotunda. Perhaps the importance of the library may justify it, but we should be on our guard against separating departments by spaces so great as to make supervision difficult or passing from one to another inconvenient. We should aim to concentrate rather than scatter.

More frequently the lot will be too narrow. We must draw in the wings and make the narrower rooms longer from front to back. With a corner lot we can enter on the side street, leaving a grand reading room on the main front and turning at right angles as we enter the house pass between other rooms to the book room at the extreme end of the lot. Or again, we shall be obliged to dispense entirely with one wing of our plan, and have but two department rooms instead of three on the floor. Every location must be studied by itself.

_Other stories._

Basement rooms are of great service for work rooms and storage. A basement directly under the main book room is specially valuable to receive the overflow of books not in great demand.

A second and even a third story will be useful for special collections, class and lecture rooms or a large audience hall. In a library of moderate size it will often be found convenient to build a book room about 16 feet high to cover two stories of bookcases and wholly independent of the level of the second floor of the main building.

_Extension._

To meet the needs of a rapidly growing library it is important at the beginning to fix the lines of extension.

A building with a front of two rooms and a passage between may add a third room at the rear, and at a later stage, add a second building as large as the first and parallel to it, the two being connected by the room first added.

This is the architect's plan for the Omaha Public Library.

_Open court._

When a library is so large that one book room is not enough, two such rooms may be built to the rear, one from each end of the building with open space between, and these two wings may be carried back equally and joined at the back by another building, thus completing the square around an open court.

This gives wide interior space for light and air, or grass and flowers. Such is the plan of the Boston Public and Princeton University libraries. It will be the same in Minneapolis when that library is complete. In the plan of the new library at Newark, N. J., the central court is roofed over with glass becoming a stairway court with surrounding galleries opening on all rooms. In Columbia University, New York, as in the British Museum, the center is a great reading room capped by a dome high above the surrounding roofs and lighted by great clerestory windows.

If the street front is very long there may be three extensions to the rear, one opposite the center and one from each end, leaving two open courts as in the plan for the New York Public or the Utica Public; and this general scheme may be repeated and carried still farther back leaving four open courts as in the Library of Congress. This plan can be extended as far as space can be provided.

When the general plan of the large building is fixed, passages will be introduced, parallel to the front and sides, and departments will be located as may be judged most convenient, always having regard to the convenience of the patrons of each department in finding ready access to the books they need and providing for supervision and attendance at least cost of time, effort and money. Extravagance in library building is not so often found in lavish ornament as in that unfortunate arrangement of departments which requires three attendants to do the work of one or two.

_Light._

Natural light should be secured if possible for every room. Windows should be frequent and extend well up toward the ceiling terminating in a straight line so as to afford large supply of light from the top. Windows like those in an ordinary house or office building, coming within two or three feet of the floor are more satisfactory both for inside and outside appearance than those which leave a high blank wall beneath them. From the street a blank wall has a prison-like effect; on the inside it cuts off communication with the rest of the world and the impression is unpleasant. The proper object of library windows six or eight feet above the floor is to allow unbroken wall space for book shelves beneath them. There is no serious objection to this at the back of the room or sometimes at the sides of the house where the windows are not conspicuous from the street, but every room of any size, if it is next to the outer wall, should have windows to look out of on at least one side.

A book room at the back of a building may secure excellent light from side windows eight feet above the floor with lower windows at the back.

The lighting of large interior rooms is often a difficult problem. Light will not penetrate to advantage more than 30 feet. Skylights, domes and clerestory windows are used. In the case of the dome or clerestory the room to be lighted must be higher than those immediately surrounding it. The clerestory plan with upright windows is most satisfactory when available, being cheaper and giving better security against the weather than the skylight. In a large building with interior courts, the lower story of the court is sometimes covered with a skylight and used as a room.

This appears in the plans for the New York Public and the Utica Public libraries. Skylights must be constructed with special care to protect rooms against the weather.

The problem of light is peculiarly difficult in the crowded blocks of cities. A library front may sometimes touch the walls of adjoining buildings so that light can enter only from the front and rear. If extending more than 40 feet back from the street, it will be necessary to narrow the rest of the building so as to leave open spaces on each side, or to introduce a little light by the device of light wells. Occasionally a large city library is found on the upper floors of an office building, where light and air are better than below, and the cost of accommodation is less. The use of elevators makes this feasible.

_Shelving._

The general scheme of book shelves should be fixed before the plan of the building is drawn. Otherwise the space for books can not be determined and serious mistakes may be made. Between the two extremes of open wall shelves and the close stack a compromise is necessary. The large library will put the bulk of its books in a stack and bring a considerable selection of the best books into an open room. The small library will begin with books along the walls and provide cases for additions from time to time as needed. Its patrons will enjoy at first the generous spaces of the open room without an array of empty cases to offend the eye and cumber the floor. When walls are covered with books a floor case will be introduced and others when needed will be placed according to plan, till at last the floor is as full as it was meant to be, and the basement beneath having served for a time to hold the overflow, a second story of cases is put on the top of the first. This process should be planned in advance for a term of 20 years.

For public access passages between cases should be five feet wide. Cases have sometimes been set on radial lines so as to bring all parts under supervision from the center. This arrangement, specially if bounded by a semi-circular wall, is expensive, wasteful of space and of doubtful value, except in peculiar conditions. It is not adapted to further extension of the building.

_Size of shelf._

For ordinary books in a popular library the shelf should not be more than eight inches wide with an upright space of ten inches. Eight shelves of this height with a base of four inches and crown finish of five inches will fill eight feet from the floor and the upper shelf may be reached at a height of 81 inches or six feet nine inches. Ordinary shelves should not exceed three feet in length. A length of two and a half feet is preferred by many. A shelf more than three feet long is apt to bend under the weight of books. For books of larger size a limited number of shelves with 12 inches upright space and a few still larger should be provided. The proportion of oversize books will vary greatly according to the kind of library, a college or scientific collection having many more than the circulating library. Any reference room will contain a large number of such books and its shelves should correspond.

_Movable shelves._

Much attention has been given to devices for adjustment of shelves. Some of these are quite ingenious and a few are satisfactory. No device should be introduced that will seriously break the smooth surface at the side. Notches, cross bars, iron horns or hooks or ornamental brackets expose the last book to damage. If pins are used they should be so held to their places that they cannot fall out. Heads of pins or bars should be sunk in the wood and the place for books left, as near as possible, absolutely smooth on all sides. It is at least a question whether the importance of making shelves adjustable and absolutely adjustable has not been greatly overrated. As a fact the shelves of the circulating library are very seldom adjusted. They may have all the usual appliances gained at large expense but there is no occasion to adjust them outside the reference room. They remain as they were put up. It is probably well to have the second and third shelf movable so that one can be dropped to the bottom and two spaces left where there were three at first. But all other shelves might as well be fixed at intervals of 10 inches without the least real inconvenience and the cases be stronger for it and far cheaper. A perfectly adjustable shelf is interesting as a study in mechanics, but is practically disappointing. Its very perfection is a snare because it is so impossible to set it true without a spirit level and a machinist. All shelves in a reference room should be adjustable. Bound magazines might have special cases.

_Wood or iron shelves._

Iron shelf construction has the advantage of lightness and strength, filling the least space and admitting light and air. Where three or more stories of cases are stacked one upon another iron is a necessity. It also offers the best facilities for adjustment of shelves and is most durable.

On the other hand it is more difficult to get, can be had only of the manufacturers in fixed patterns, and costs at least twice as much as any wood, even oak, unless carved for ornament, and four or five times as much as some very good wooden shelves. This great cost raises the question whether the advantages named are really important. Few village libraries need more than two stories of shelves in a stack. If iron is more durable we can buy two sets of wooden shelves for the cost of one of iron--and when we buy the second set will know better what we want. The importance of shelf adjustment has been exaggerated.

A more important consideration, to my mind, is that iron is not so well adapted to the changing conditions of a growing library. It is made at a factory and to be ordered complete. It is bolted to the floor and wall at fixed intervals. But we have seen that a gradual accumulation of bookcases is better than to put all shelving in position at first.

Wooden cases are movable. You begin with those you need and add others as you have more books, you can change and alter them at any time with only the aid of the village carpenter, and enjoy the wide open spaces till the time for filling them comes.

Iron with all its ornaments belongs in the shop. It is not the furniture you prefer in your home. The item of cost will usually decide the question. For libraries of less than 30,000 volumes, where close storage is not imperative, wood has the advantage.

_Miscellaneous notes._

A floor of hard wood is good enough for most libraries. Wood covered with corticene or linoleum tends to insure the needed quiet. Floors of tile, marble or concrete are very noisy and should have strips of carpet laid in the passages.

On the walls of reading rooms it is neither necessary nor desirable to have an ornamental wainscot, nor indeed any wainscot at all, not even a base board. Book cases will cover the lower walls and books are the best ornament.

Small tables for four are preferred in a reading room to long common tables. They give the reader an agreeable feeling of privacy.

Do not make tables too high. 30 inches are enough.

Light bent wood chairs are easy to handle.

Steam or hot water give the best heat and incandescent electric lamps give the best light.

Be sure that you have sufficient ventilation.

Windows should be made to slide up and down, not to swing on hinges or pivots.

Without dwelling further on details let us be sure 1, That we have room within the walls for all the books we now have or are likely to have in 20 years; provide the first outfit of shelves for twice the number of books expected at the end of one year and add bookcases as we need them, leaving always a liberal margin of empty space on every shelf. We must plan for the location of additional cases for 20 years with due consideration of the question of public access.

2, That all needed departments are provided in harmonious relation with each other and so located as to serve the public to the best advantage and at least cost of time, strength and money.

3, That the best use of the location is made and the building suited to the constituency and local conditions.

4, That the estimated cost is well within the limit named, for new objects of expense are certain to appear during the process of building and debt must not be thought of.

5, That the building is convenient for work and supervision, a point at which many an elegant and costly building has conspicuously failed.

Make it also neat and beautiful, for it is to be the abiding place of all that is best in human thought and experience and is to be a home in which all inquiring souls are to be welcomed. Since the people are to be our guests let us make the place of their reception worthy of its purpose.

THE RELATION OF THE ARCHITECT TO THE LIBRARIAN.

BY JOHN LAWRENCE MAURAN, _Architect, St. Louis, Mo._

The public library, as we understand the name to-day, has had but a brief existence compared with the mere housing of collections of books which has gone on through countless ages.

With the change from the old ideas of safeguarding the precious books themselves to the advanced theory of placing their priceless contents within the easy reach of all, has come an equally important change in the character of the custodian of the books. The duties of the modern librarian are such that he must be not only something of a scholar, in the best sense of the word, but he must be capable also of properly directing others in the pursuit of learning, and, withal, combine executive ability with a highly specialized professional facility. The result of carefully conceived courses of training is apparent in the wonderful results achieved through the devoted and untiring efforts of the members of this Association towards a constant betterment of their charges, and a closer bonding, through affection, between the masses of the people and that portion of the books which lies between the covers.

My purpose in recalling to your memory the wonderful advance made by training in your profession in a comparatively short time, is to give point to an analogy I wish to draw, showing a corresponding advance in the profession of architecture. Not so very many years ago there were ample grounds for the recalling by Mr. David P. Todd of Lord Bacon's warning against the sacrifice of utility to mere artistic composition in the following words: "Houses are built to Live in, and not to Looke on: Therefore let Use bee preferred before Uniformitie; Except where both may be had Leave the Goodly Fabrickes of Houses, for Beautie only, to the Enchanted Pallaces of the Poets; Who build them with small Cost": but to-day, thanks to the munificence of the French government and the untiring energy of some of those who have profited by it, in fostering the growth of our own architectural schools, there are few sections of this broad land which have not one or more worthy followers of Palladio and Michael Angelo. Hunt, Richardson and Post were among the first to receive the training of the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and they, moreover, had the rare judgment to take the training only, adapting their designs to the climatic and other local conditions rather than attempting the importation of French forms as well as method of design. Their example and the impetus they were able to impart to the technical schools have been potent factors in the development of the talent of American architects. While it is true, and more the pity, that some students return from Paris with the idea that because Paris is a beautiful city architecturally, the simple injection of some of their own masterpieces into our diverse city street fronts, is going to reincarnate our municipalities, the major portion are sufficiently discriminating to realize that Paris owes much of its charm to a symmetry under governmental control which we, free born Americans, can never hope to attain, and leave behind them the mere forms and symbols of their alma mater to use that which is best and most profitable in their training; that is, a breadth of conception of the problem and a logical method of sequential study of it which ensures a creditable if not an ideal solution. The modern architect, to be successful, must be conversant with a vast amount of information which is apparently outside his chosen profession--such as the minutiae of hospitals, churches, libraries, railroad stations and the like. As a case in point I recall the address of a certain railroad president at the dedication of a large terminal depot, in which he said: "while we have had the co-operation of engineers and specialists in every branch of the work, I must give great credit to our architect who is responsible for the conception of the entire system of the handling of passengers, although he was employed solely to enclose the space designated by our engineers." It is not my purpose to laud the profession of architecture, but rather to show its preparedness to _co-operate_ with you in achieving the best in library construction and design.

May I add to Mr. Todd's advice to library boards about to build, "first appoint your librarian," the suggestion that second, in consultation with him, _appoint_ your architect. It is not disbelief in competition which has led the American Institute of Architects to advise against competitions, for the former is a constant condition, while the latter they believe to result in more evil than good. It is a popular notion among laymen that a competition will bring out _ideas_ and mayhap develop some hidden genius, but in answer to the first I can say, I know of but one building erected from successful competitive plans without modification, and for the second, the major portion of American originality in building designs is unworthy the name of architecture. Aside from the needless expense and loss of time entailed on library board, as well as architect, by the holding of competitions a greater evil lies in the well proven fact, that in their desire to win approval for their design, most architects endeavor to find out the librarian's predilections and follow them in their plans rather than to submit a scholarly solution of the problem studied from an unprejudiced standpoint. It is not often the good fortune of competitors to have their submitted work judged with such unbiased intelligence as that which permitted the best conceived plan to win in the competition for the new library in New York City. Few men would have dared in competition to remove that imposing architectural feature, the reading room, from their main façade and put it frankly where it belongs, in direct touch with the stacks which serve it, as Carrere & Hastings did.

Not long ago a member of a certain library board of trustees wrote to us that we were being considered, among others, as architects for their new building, and he suggested that we send to them as many water colors as we could collect and _as large as possible_, to impress the board; for, as he added, "some of us appreciate your plans, but most laymen are caught by the colored pictures, the larger the better."

As a rule librarians have very decided ideas as to the plan desired in so far as it relates to the correlation of rooms and departments, and it, therefore, seems manifestly proper that having selected a librarian on account of merit, the next step should be the selection of an architect on the same basis, to the end that in consultation the theory of the one may either be studied into shape or proved inferior to the theory of the other. Under the discussion of two broad minds, the wheat is easily separated from the chaff with the much to be desired result of the assemblying of a well ordered plan to present to the board, which has had such study that few criticisms cannot be answered from the store of experience gathered in the making. This ideal crystallization of ideas, this development of the problem working hand in hand precludes the need of such advice as is found in the following quotation from a paper on library buildings:

"Taking into account the practical uses of the modern library it is readily seen that it needs a building planned from inside, not from without, dictated by convenience and not by taste no matter how good. The order should be to require the architect to put a presentable exterior on an interior having only use in view and not as is so often done to require the librarian to make the best he can of an interior imposed by the exigencies of the architect's taste or the demand of the building committee for a monumental structure."

Such an anomalous relationship between interior and exterior is absolutely opposed to the fundamental training of the architect of to-day. Often have I heard my professor of design, a Frenchman of rare judgment, fly out at a student caught working on his exterior before the interior was complete: "Work on your plan, finish your plan, and when that is perfect, the rest will _come_."

Architects of experience, who have been students of library development in its every branch, who have followed the changes in the relations of the library to the people, have reached the same conclusions along broad lines, as have the librarians, with respect to lighting, access, oversight and administration, as well as the general correlation of universally important departments, and it is therefore my purpose to state our relationship rather than attempt the raising of issues on details of library arrangement, and to show if possible, that the skilled architect's method of procedure tends to settle mooted points by weighing values and considering relations of parts in a logical and broad minded study of the particular set of conditions pertaining to his problem.

Either owing to the size, shape or contour of the site, its particular exposure, local climatic conditions, the particular character of the library itself or the people whom it serves, the problem presented to an architect by a library board is _always_ essentially a _new_ one. Certain fundamental rules may obtain through their universal applicability, but every step in the working out of a successful plan must be influenced by the particular conditions referred to, and here the co-operation of the librarian is of inestimable value to the architect, no matter how wide his experience may be.

Desired correlation, like most results, can be achieved in divers ways, and in most cases nothing of utility need be sacrificed to secure a dignified plan, which is as much to be desired as a dignified exterior. Realizing the importance of accomplishing successful results, a scholarly architect will strive to mould his plan with an eye to symmetry, without losing sight for an instant of the conditions of use, and never sacrificing practical relationship to gain an _absolutely_ symmetrical arrangement of plan.

The French architect will, if necessary, waste space or inject needless rooms into his plan to secure perfect balance, while his American student will gain all the value of the _effect_ without diminishing the practical value of his building one iota.

Along with symmetry, the logical development of the plan in study keeps in mind something of the rough form of the exterior design, with particular reference to the grouping of its masses to secure the maximum of air and the best light for the various departments. With the best designers, it is an unwritten law, that the next step after completing a satisfactory plan, is to sketch a section through the building, not only to ensure a proper proportion in the enclosed rooms, but most important of all to secure a system of fenestration, allowing wall space where needed and introducing the light as near the top of the rooms as the finish will permit. Having settled then all the details of plans and section, wherein are comprised all of the matter of greatest moment to the practical librarian, it only remains for the architect to prepare a suitable exterior and I certainly agree with my old preceptor that "it will come." The American people believe that education is the corner stone of manhood and good citizenship, and next to our public schools, if not before them, the most potent educational factor is our public library. The librarians are responsible in a great measure for the good work which is being accomplished in the dissemination of knowledge and culture among the people, but let me ask, are we not as responsible for our share, as co-workers with them, to perpetuate in lasting masonry the best which in us lies for the same great cause of the education of the people?

What renaissance has failed to find literature and architecture quickened alike? The awakening of a love of the beautiful brings a thirst for knowledge concerning the beautiful; as the records will show, the interest excited by that marvellous assemblage of architectural masterpieces at the Chicago Fair, created a demand on the libraries almost beyond belief for books on architecture and the allied arts.

Every conscientious architect must feel his responsibility to his clients as well as to the people and strive he must, to combine the ideal in convenience with simple beauty in design; my one plea is that such a combination is not only _possible_, but in intelligent hands, should be universal, and if my beliefs, hopes and expectations find sympathy with you, I shall feel repaid in the security of a harmonious co-operation between architect and librarian in the great work which stretches ahead of us into the future.

THE DEPARTMENTAL LIBRARY.

BY JAMES THAYER GEROULD, _University of Missouri, Columbia_.

The recent discussion of the departmental library system at the University of Chicago and the consequent restatement of the position of that university in reference to such libraries, together with the consideration of the problem in the annual reports of Dr. Canfield and Mr. Lane, have called up anew the question of the expediency of the system. Is the departmental library to be a permanent feature of the university library? Is the highest effectiveness of a library to be secured by a policy of decentralization?

The public library has answered the question, finally, it seems, in the affirmative. Do the arguments which have induced the public librarian to establish branches and delivery stations apply in the case of the university library? Is the university library of the future to be housed in a single building, or is it to be scattered about in class rooms and laboratories? To my mind, there is no more important question of administration before those of us who are trying to render the university library an efficient instrument of instruction than this.

With many librarians there is an element of necessity entering into the question. Mr. Lane is facing a condition where the library has altogether outgrown its building, and some place must be found where books can be stored and used. The situation is much the same in many other places. Shall the facilities of the library be enlarged by building or shall the books be transferred to the various departmental libraries? Mr. Lane, speaking for his own library, says of the latter alternative: "It would commit the library to an entirely different policy from what it has pursued hitherto, and such a change would be little short of a revolution for this library."

At the University of Missouri we are expecting in the near future to begin the construction of a library building, but, before adopting any definite plans, we are trying to work out the problems that have just been stated, and to make ourselves reasonably sure that we are right before we go ahead.

There are arguments enough on all sides of this question, of which Dr. Canfield says that it has not two sides only, but a dozen. We must premise that no two departments use their books in exactly the same way, and that, consequently, methods of administration must differ. It is generally for the advantage of all, for example, in a university where there is a law school, that the books on private law should be separated from the main collection and treated as a branch library. Similarly medicine, theology and possibly a few other subjects may be withdrawn and administered separately.

In some of our universities one or more of the departments are several miles away from the main body of the institution. It is obviously necessary that the books most used in those departments should be near enough so that the students can have access to them without too much inconvenience and loss of time. In the ordinary institution, however, most of the buildings are grouped in a comparatively small area, and it is seldom more than five minutes' walk from the most remote building to the library. In a condition such as this, and with the exceptions noted above, I am inclined to the opinion that the university is best served by a central library containing the main collection, and small, rigidly selected laboratory libraries comprising books which from their very nature are most useful in the laboratory as manuals of work.

The arguments generally advanced in favor of the system are these:

1. The instructor needs to be able to refer, at a moment's notice, to any book relating to his subject.

2. The system enables the instructor to keep a more careful watch over the reading of his students.

3. The best interests of the library demand that each division of the library shall be directly under the eye of the men most interested in it, that is to say, the instructors in the various departments; that they should direct its growth and watch over its interests.

That the first and second of these arguments have great weight cannot be denied, but with a properly constructed library building and most careful administration the requirements of both instructor and student can be met quite as well by a central system.

It is, of course, quite impossible for each instructor to have in his office all the books necessary for his work. The duplication necessary for this purpose would be impracticable even for the most wealthy university. He must, therefore, go from his office or class room to the department library and search for the book himself. With the confusion which generally reigns in a library of this sort, and with the lack of effective registration of loans, this is quite often a matter of some difficulty.

At Columbia University the office of each professor is in telephonic communication with the central library. When a book is wanted the library is notified by telephone, the book is found and sent out at once. Within ten minutes from the time that the request reaches the library the book is generally in the instructor's hands. He may lose two or three minutes' time, but the amount lost is more than compensated by the readiness with which others can use the books of the department, and by other advantages to be considered later. At Columbia, too, the system of stack study rooms provides in a very satisfactory way for the second objection. There, as many of you have seen, the stacks are distributed through a series of small rooms, the light side of which is supplied with tables and used for study rooms and for seminar purposes. If the instructor can use the departmental library for his work room, he can certainly use this room to as good advantage, for here he has the entire collection and not a selected few of his books. I believe fully that an instructor who is sufficiently interested in the reading of his students to watch over it carefully in his departmental library, will find that he is able to keep just as close a relation to it, if his students are working in a central library. He may be obliged to make slight changes in his methods, but the result ought to be the same.

The third argument in favor of the departmental library system is of a different nature. Is the librarian or the professor best qualified to direct the growth and watch over the interests of the different departments of the library? So far as I know, this argument is given more consideration at Chicago than anywhere else. It may be true, in certain cases, that the professor has the greater qualification for this work, but when this is the case it argues that the professor is an exceptional one or that the university has been unfortunate in the selection of its librarian.

It is quite needless to say that the librarian should be in constant conference with the teaching force regarding purchases, but that he should delegate all of his powers of purchase in any given field, admits of the gravest doubt. Laude, in his recent work on the university library system of Germany, attributes a great deal of the success of those libraries to the fact that they are independent and autonomous institutions, enjoying a much greater measure of freedom than is accorded to any similar American institution. Too many professors are apt to buy books in their special field and slight other lines of research in their own subject. For example, a zoologist, who is doing research work along the lines of embryology, is very apt to overload the collection at that point and neglect other equally important lines.

Again, very few instructors, even granting them the qualifications necessary for the work, have the time or patience for it. If the amount appropriated to the department is at all large, a considerable portion of the sum is quite frequently unexpended at the end of the year. Some interesting tables, prepared by Mr. Winsor for his report for the year 1894-95, show that in seven selected departments the amount of books ordered, including continuations, was only about 50 per cent. of the appropriation, plus one quarter, the allowance for orders not filled. While this proportion would probably not hold good in all departments or in all places, it exhibits an almost uniform tendency and a tendency which must be corrected if a well-rounded out library is to be secured.

The system of departmental control is very sure to create a feeling of departmental ownership, a feeling that the books, bought out of the moneys appropriated to a particular library, should remain permanently in that library, and that any one from outside who wishes to use the books is more or less of an intruder. Pin any one of these men down, and they will admit that the books are for the use of all, but the feeling exists, notwithstanding, and is the cause of constant friction.

The departmental library renders the books difficult of access. If the library is large enough to warrant the setting apart of a separate room for its use, this room can seldom be open for as large a portion of the day as the central library, and when it is open the books cannot be obtained as readily by the great body of the students as if they were in a central building. Most students are working in several lines at once. They are compelled, by this system, to go from one room to another, and to accommodate themselves to differing hours of opening and to varying rules for the use of the books. Then, too, it frequently happens in the case of small libraries that the books are kept in the office of the head of the department, and can only be consulted when he is in his office and at liberty. The difficulty is here greatly increased. I know of cases where even the instructors in the same department have found difficulty in getting at the books, and the library was, in effect, a private library for the head professor, supported out of university funds. If instructors cannot use the books, how can the student be expected to do so?

There is a sentiment, false, perhaps, but nevertheless existing in the minds of many students, that any attempt to use the books under these circumstances is an endeavor to curry favor with the professor. This feeling does not exist in connection with the use of the books at a central library.