Page:Library Construction, Architecture, Fittings, and Furniture.djvu/186

162 tables, at which 100 readers can be seated. Over this rises the dome, from which, as well as from the windows on the four sides, light is admitted to the room. The shelving is on the same principle as in the lending library, but a gallery tier is carried round three sides of the room, access to which is obtained by winding stairs in the four projecting angles of the room. The shelving already fitted gives accommodation for 40,000 volumes, and provision is made for the addition of a third tier of shelving being added when required. The basement is also shelved for the bound volumes of newspapers and magazines, and the flat immediately above, under the news-room, is used as a book-store for reference books.

The building is lighted by electricity supplied by the corporation. Fifteen arc lamps are used for the illumination of the large spaces, while 120 incandescent lamps light the entrance-hall and gateway, the alcove recesses, the public and service stairs, and the board and librarian's rooms.

The library was the gift of Mr. Andrew Carnegie, who gave the sum of .50,000 for the purpose of erecting it.

The Mitchell Library, Glasgow, is different from most of the British public libraries, inasmuch as it is a reference library only, and has no newspaper reading-room or lending department.

For some years it was situated in rented flats,