Page:Library Construction, Architecture, Fittings, and Furniture.djvu/166

142 The lending library is placed upon the first floor, over the news-room, but, as the site has a considerable slope, it also has an entrance direct from the main street. It is contained in a room 76 feet by 46. The books are arranged in cases which stand in the centre of the room, and a counter runs round three sides of the rooms, the borrowers being between the counter and the wall on three sides of the room, as shown in Fig. 66.

The reference library is a room of the same dimensions, on the floor above the lending library. It has seats for sixty readers. The total shelving of the library amounts to about 60,000 volumes. The cost of the building and fittings was £10,000.

The Belfast Free Library was erected in 1884, from the designs of Mr. W. H. Lynn. The main entrance to the building is placed in the centre of the principal front, and gives access to an entrance-hall 33 feet square, with a small enclosed lobby for a porter on the left, commanding both entrance-hall and newspaper reading-room. The lending library, which is 72 feet by 20 feet, has a space in front of the counter for the public 27 feet by 13 feet; it is on the right of the entrance, and is shelved for about 25,000 volumes, in double cases placed at right angles to the windows. The newspaper-room on the left is 61 feet by 30 feet, and has accommodation for about eighty readers.

From the entrance-hall a stone staircase leads to the reference library, upon the first floor. This is a fine room, 102 feet by 40 feet, and extends across the whole width of the building. It is lit