Page:Library Administration, 1898.djvu/194

 believe that the possibility of lighting the galleries of the British Museum library has been considered from time to time, but always rejected on the grounds of cost and danger. The Reading-room there, however, is lit both by incandescent lights, close to the readers' heads and along the catalogue desks, one light being allowed to every pair of them, and by brush-lights in mid-air. In this way the working hours are prolonged until eight during the winter months. The electric light has been installed in the reading-rooms of the new Swiss National Library at Berne, and provision is made in the Prussian budget (1896-97) for its use in the University Library, Gottingen.

Though the use of artificial light cannot be extended all over a considerable library, it nevertheless makes the whole library accessible to those who can only work there in the evening, since the books desired can be applied for beforehand and found during the day-time. It is generally found convenient to use paper of a special colour for the tickets on which such applications are made.

AGE OF READERS

The restrictive measures necessary to ensure the best possible use of a collection of books, and their preservation, will of necessity vary according to its character. A library that aims at being complete must contain a large proportion of books which are rightly withheld from the very young,