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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 
 
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 •• • • • • • ♦* ' • , • • 
 
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. 
 
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