Page:Library Construction, Architecture, Fittings, and Furniture.djvu/278

254 scheme is to represent "The Triumph of Religion over Paganism and Polytheism." It will be remembered that a portion of this work was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1894, and so great was the admiration it excited when fixed at Boston, that a public subscription was started to defray the expense of completing the scheme of decoration, so that it should comprise the whole gallery. The artist is to receive a fee of $30,000 for the complete work. Opening from the centre of the Sargent Hall, and situated over the grand staircase, is one of the most attractive rooms in the building. It is 50 feet by 30, and is shelved for the collection of musical books presented to the library by Mr. Allen A. Brown.

The stack-rooms which hold the library proper extend around three sides of the building. They are 40 feet across, and have a series of double bookcases, each twelve feet in length, placed at right angles to the outside walls and inner courts. A central gangway runs down each stack-room, and a narrow passage is left between the ends of the cases and the walls. The stacks are six storeys in height, and will accommodate over a million volumes; this added to the shelving in the special libraries, Bates Hall, periodical room, &c., would make the library's total capacity over a million and a half. The stock at the present time is about half a million volumes, and the average annual increase about 25,000.

The library has for some time printed its card-catalogues on the premises. It now possesses the