A Book for All Readers: An Aid to the Collection, Use, and Preservation of Books and the Formation of Public and Private LibrariesSpofford, Ainsworth Rand
Science
A Book for All Readers: An Aid to the Collection, Use, and Preservation of Books and the Formation of Public and Private Libraries
Spofford, Ainsworth Rand
Books; Library science
In all libraries, there should be a receiving or packing room, where
boxes and parcels of books are opened and books mended, collated, and
prepared for the shelves. This room may well be in a dry and well lighted
basement. Two small cloak-rooms for wraps will be needed, one for each
sex. Two toilet rooms or lavatories should be provided. A room for the
library directors or trustees, and one for the librarian, are essential
in libraries of much extent. A janitor's room or sleeping quarters
sometimes needs to be provided. A storage room for blanks, stationery,
catalogues, etc., will be necessary in libraries of much extent. A
periodical room is sometimes provided, distinct from the reading-room or
the delivery department. In this case, if several hundred periodicals are
taken, an attendant should be always present to serve them to readers,
from the shelves or cases where they should be kept in alphabetical
order. Without this, and a ticket system to keep track of what are in
use, no one can readily find what is needed, nor ascertain whether it is
in a reader's hands when sought for. System and the alphabet alone will
solve all difficulties.
As to the space required for readers in a periodical room, it may be
assumed that about five hundred square feet will accommodate twenty-five
readers, and the same proportion for a larger number at one time. A room
twenty-five by forty would seat fifty readers, while one twenty-five by
twenty would accommodate twenty-five readers, with proper space for
tables, &c. The files for newspapers are referred to in another chapter
on periodicals.
In a library building, the heating and ventilation are of prime
importance. Upon their proper regulation largely depends the health and
consequently the efficiency of all employed, as well as the comfort of
the reading public. There is no space to enter upon specific
descriptions, for which the many conflicting systems, with experience of
their practical working, should be examined. Suffice it to say in
general, that a temperature not far below nor above 70 degrees Fahrenheit
should be aimed at; that the furnace, with its attendant nuisances of
noise, dust, and odors, should be outside the library building--not under
it; and that electric lighting alone should be used, gas being highly
injurious to the welfare of books.
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