Page:Library Construction, Architecture, Fittings, and Furniture.djvu/236

212 of the lending library, which is on the right, and has a counter for borrowers running across it. On the first floor a magazine-room is planned over part of the news-room (Fig. 96), and a reference room and book-store cover the entrance-hall and lending library. A circular staircase runs from behind the counter of the lending department to the book-store above. The librarian lives upon the premises, and a separate entrance is provided for him at the end of the news-room, with one room upon the first floor adjoining the magazine-room, and others upon the second floor.

A small library, planned in two storeys like this, is more costly to administrate than if all departments were on one floor and capable of being supervised from one centre, as in the Hammersmith Library, designed by the same architect. Where it is impossible to obtain room for a one storey building, a plan similar to this will be found to work well, for it has a cheerful feeling of roominess about it, and there is ample light for each department.

Another of the libraries founded by Mr. Passmore Edwards is the Hammersmith Public Library at Shepherd's Bush. The special feature aimed at by the architect, Mr. Maurice B. Adams, in this building is supervision of all departments from the counter of the lending library. To insure this the several public rooms are divided by glazed screens, which permit a view of them all without inconvenience to the readers or officials in charge.

The exterior (Fig. 97) is designed in the