Page:Library Construction, Architecture, Fittings, and Furniture.djvu/129

Rh room, and so reaches an attendant at the storey on the level of the reading-room floor. In the new building for the Library of Congress at Washington, a very extensive system of book lifts and book railways has been adopted. In that library it is necessary to send books out of the building to

the Capitol, some hundreds of feet away. The books are ordered by telephone, and sent through a subway connecting the two places, through which endless bands, carrying holders at intervals, are continually travelling, as shown in Fig. 45. When the holder reaches its destination it turns over, and dumps the book carefully out upon a leather cushion in front of the attendant. In Chapter XI. will be found a description of the mechanical appliances in use in the new library building at Boston, Mass., for conveying books from the book stores to the delivery room.

The ordinary tables used in the reading-rooms do not require much to be said about them. Care should be taken to have them a proper height from the floor, say 30 inches, and of size sufficient to give stability; they should not be fitted with