(q79 UC-NRLF B 3 b5H 573 AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION THE BEST READING, FOR THE LARGEST NUMBER, AT THE LEAST COST LIBRARY BUILDINGS BY WILLIAM REED EASTMAN 'I New York State Library^ Albany, N. Y. REPRINTED AFTER REVISION FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, WAUKESHA, JULY 3-IO, I9OI A. L. A. PUBLISHING BOARD 34 Newbury Street 1908 REPRINT SERIES ^ f r » m • • • •• • • • • • ♦* ' • , • • LIBRARY BUILDINGS By W. R. Eastman, Nexc 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 depart- ments in a single room. It will not only give far better service to the community, but will command its respect, interest and support to a greater degree than be- fore. The following hints are intended as a reply to many library boards who are ask- ing 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 of yearly increase? Number of volumes in 20 years? Number of volumes to go in refer- ence room? Number of volumes to go in chil- dren'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 li- brary, 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 oversized books, documents, convenient classifica- tion, expansion, and working facilities, the shelves of a library should be sufficient for twice the actual number of books. The lines of future enlargement should be fully determined and if, at the end of 20 years, there will be shelf space for one and a half times the number of books as estimated for that time it will usually be sufficient. The increase of books in a living library will invariably outrun expec- tations. 2 DEPARTMENTS Is the library for free circulation? Is the library for free reference? Are special rooms needed for study? high school students? children? 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? 251697 • .* ' * * . • • ' • r • • • » ' By what class will library be chiefly used? School children? Students? Mechanics? Reading circles? Ladies? 2 RESOURCES AND CONDITIONS Money available? Money annually for maintenance? Size and shape of building lot? Location and surroundings? How many stories? Elevators? Heat? Light? Ventilation? 5 ADMINISTRATION Is library to be in charge of one person? Or 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 trustees are prepared to adopt an outline sketch indicating in a gen- eral way their needs and views. While it is important that they should examine other libraries to learn their merits and their faults 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 suc- ceeded in library work if possible, who will faithfully study the special problems, consult freely with the library board, pro- pose 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 coun- try 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 at one end of the room and those needed most for study at the opposite end. One corner may contain juvenile books. In this way confusion between readers, bor- rowers 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 neces- sary to provide double faced floor cases. These will be placed with passages run- ning from the center of the room towards the end and that part of the room will be- come the book or delivery room and the opposite side will be the study or refer- ence 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 super- vision. 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 depart- ments in one is dignified and wholesome. It may be well to separate the depart- ments 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. Partitions in such a building are worse than useless. Separate rooms For a larger library these rails must be made into partitions, giving to each de- partment a separate room. Partitions ot glass surmounting low cases for books and possibly only eight feet high from the floor may answer an ex- cellent purpose, adding to the impres- sion of extent, admitting light to the in- terior of the building and allowing some supervision from the center. With parti- tions on each side, the entrance becomes a central hallway with a reading room at each side and the book room at the end. This is the best position for the book room for two special reasons. Overlap- ping 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 re- moval when the growth of the library re- quires enlargement. In libraries of moderate size 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 conspic- uous are of vital consequence and should be carefully planned. We have now reached a type of build- ing 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." B'rom 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 nar- row. 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 turn- ing 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. It is always undesirable to enter a library on the narrow side, because in so doing those who come to borrow must pass between and around the tables and disturb readers. Where such an approach is inevitable the door should be at one side, not in the center of the front wall. 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 be found convenient to build the book room about 16 feet high to cover two stories of book- cases 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 behind the first and parallel to it, the two being connected by the room first added. 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 be- tween, and these two wings may be car- ried 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 Prince- ton University libraries. It will be the same in Minneapolis when that library is complete. In the 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 New York Public Library; and this general scheme may be repeated and car- ried 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 intro- duced, 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 10 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 re- quires three attendants to do the work of one or two. Light Natural light should be secured if possi- ble 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 satisfac- tory both for inside and outside appear- ance 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 seri- ous objection to this at the back or some- times 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 win- dows to look out of. A book room at the back of a building may secure excellent light from side win- dows 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 surround- ing it. The clerestory plan with upright windows is most satisfactory when avail- able, being cheaper and giving better security against the weather than the sky- light. 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 Library. Skylights must be constructed with special care as a protection against the weather. The problem of light is peculiarly diffi- cult 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 often be necessary to narrow the rest of the building so as to leave open spaces on each side, or to intro- duce a little light by the device of light wells. Occasionally a large city library is found on the upper floors of an office build- ing, 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 seri- ous 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 cf empty cases to offend the eye and cum- ber the floor. When walls are covered v/ith books a floor case will be introduced and others when needed will be placed ac- cording to plan, till at last the floor is as full as it was meant to be, and the base- ment 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 at least four feet wide. Cases are sometimes set on radial lines so as to make all parts directly accessible and bring every passage under super- vision 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 con- ditions. It is not adapted to further ex- tension of the building. Unfortunately the passage between radial cases is nar- rowest at the very point where most per- sons must meet and pass. On any other story of the stack above or below the main floor the peculiar advantages of radial arrangement disappear. 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 ex- ceed 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. Ledges will also be desirable. Movable shelves Much attention has been given to devices for adjustment of shelves. Some of these are quite ingenious and a few are satisfac- tory. 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 first book to damage. If pins are used to support shelves they should be so held in 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 im- portance of making shelves adjustable and absolutely adjustable has not been greatly overrated. As a fact the shelves of the circulating library are very seldom ad- justed. They may have all the usual appli- ances provided at large expense but there is little 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 from the floor 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 in- teresting as a study in mechanics, but is practically disappointing. Its very perfec- tion 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 is also most durable. On the other hand iron is more difficult to get, can be had only of the manufac- turers in fixed patterns, and costs much more than any wood, even oak, unless polished, paneled or carved for ornament. This raises the question whether the advan- tages named are really important. Few village libraries need more than two stories of shelves in a stack. Though 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. 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 must be ordered complete. It is bolted to the floor and wall at fixed intervals. To put all shelving in position at first is to lose the advantage of a gradual accumulation of cases. 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 comes for more cases. Iron with all its ornaments belongs to 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, the advantage is with wood. Miscellaneous notes A floor of hard wood is good enough for most libraries. Wood covered with corti- cene or linoleum tends to insure the needed quiet. Floors of tile, marble or concrete are very noisy and should have strips of carpet or rubber laid in the passages. On the walls of reading rooms it is neither necessary nor desirable to have an ornamental wainscot, nor indeed any wain- scot at all. Book cases will cover the lower walls and books are the best orna- ment. Small tables for four are preferred in a reading room to long common tables. They give the reader an agreeable feeling of privacy. To allow room for free passing, tables should be at least five feet distant from other tables and cases. Do not make tables too high. 30 inches are enough. Light bent wood chairs are easy to handle. Hot water gives the best heat and incan- descent electric lamps give the best light. Take pains to secure sufficient ventila- tion. Windows should be made to slide up and down, not to swing on hinges or pivots. IN ADOPTING A LIBRARY PLAN BE SURE 1 That the best use of the location is made and the building suited to the con- stituency and local conditions. 2 .That there is room within the walls for all the books the library now has or is 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 needed, leaving always a liberal margin of empty space on every shelf. Plan for the location of additional cases for 20 years with due consideration of the question of public access. 3 That all needed departments are pro- vided in harmonious relation with each other and placed so that the building shall be convenient for work and supervision and serve the public to the best advantage at least cost 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. Make the building 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 guests let the place of their recep- tion be worthy of its purpose. k