Limited to a small space the children's room is nevertheless a circulating department, a reading room, a reference room, perhaps a repair room, and a cataloging department all in one; and if the children's librarian has not had actual work in each of these departments of her library, she should serve an apprenticeship at the receiving and charging desks, the registration desk, the slip rack, not only for the sake of knowing the routine of each department, but for studying improvements in planning her furnishings. The registration clerk will tell her that she has not enough elbow room, that the application drawers are too narrow or too heavy; the attendants at the charging desk find every present arrangement so satisfactory that they advise exact reproduction. Armed with pad and tape measure the children's librarian notes all these points. The problem how with a minimum of help to "run" all departments, to see all parts of the room, to keep your eye on the entrance so as to nip in the bud any tendency to boisterousness as the children come in, and to watch the exit so that no book goes out uncharged, how to keep all unfinished work out of the children's reach but to give them perfectly free access to the books, in short, how to arrange your working space so that one person on a moderately busy day can attend to all these things, may be answered, I think, in this way. All wall space will sooner or later be needed for books. Taking an oblong floor space (dimensions proportionate to size of room and circulation) and surrounding this by a counter 30 inches high and two feet wide, is a simple way of accomplishing these things. The counter opposite the entrance is the receiving and charging desk; at another place it is the registration desk; books after "slipping" are piled in another part ready for return to shelves; books waiting to be marked occupy a fourth section; the catalog case, notices to children, call-slip holders, etc., stand on the counter. The space under the counter is available for supply cupboards and drawers. The height of the counter is such that a grown person sitting in an ordinary chair works comfortably behind it, but it is so low that no small child feels frowningly walled out in standing on the other side. Thus all the work of the room is concentrated and supervision is easy. A few details are worth noticing. First, don't let the carpenter give you drawers instead of cupboards. Drawers are wasteful of room for packing supplies, and of time in hunting for them. Next, have the cupboard doors slide, not swing, open, for economy of your working floor space. Underneath registration and charging desks leave space empty for your feet. Just under counter near the registration desk have a row of drawers, sliding easily but fastened so they cannot fall out, made of the exact size to hold your application blanks and cards, with guide cards. A work table within the counter will be necessary.