Page:Library Construction, Architecture, Fittings, and Furniture.djvu/220

196 reading stands for thirty-four papers, and seats for twenty-eight persons. The librarian's office divides the news-room from the lending library, and the main staircase which faces it adjoins the magazineroom. The lending library is 2000 square feet in area, and extends across the site. It is lit by windows on three sides, and at present is shelved for about 25,000 volumes, in double bookcases 7½ feet in height.

On the first floor (Fig. 89) is the reference library, which extends over the whole area of the lending library beneath. It is entirely lit from the roof, and is shelved for books on all sides to a height of 16 feet, a gallery all round giving access to the upper shelves. In the centre of the room eight tables are placed, with seats for sixty-eight readers. The attendants' desk and counter for card-catalogue are placed close to the door, so that all persons entering or leaving the room are under the close observation of the official in charge.

A ladies' room is placed over the librarian's office, and a book- lift runs from the reference library through the lending library to the basement beneath. The front of the building is occupied by a large book-store, reached by a passage at the back of the staircase, and is shelved to take 20,000 volumes. A residence for the librarian is reached by a staircase at the side of the building, between the librarian's office and the news-room. The second floor contains the upper part of the reference library, with its gallery; a room for committee meetings, the same size as the ladies' room, over which it is placed; and a second book-store, over that upon