Page:Library Construction, Architecture, Fittings, and Furniture.djvu/142

118 labour and trouble. They are made of tin or wood, divided into five compartments. Five trays, provided with a set of printed guide cards, A-Z, should be included among every cataloguer's tools.

In libraries where the books have to be shelved above seven feet high, ladders are a necessity. Of

these there are several forms. If an ordinary ladder is used, it should have a cross-piece at the top long enough to reach from one upright of a bookcase to another, so that when in use it will rest against two uprights and not against the books. The crosspiece should be padded to prevent any damage. In narrow gangways a long cross-piece is apt to be in the way; and at the Royal Library, Brussels, a ladder is used which has hinged to its top two vertical cross-pieces, hanging downwards, and which rest against the fronts of two or more of the shelves. Fig. 56 gives an illustration of this ladder and its method of construction.

In the Newcastle-upon-Tyne public libraries a brass rod is fixed across the front of the bookcases at a height of about ten feet from the floor. The