Page:Library Construction, Architecture, Fittings, and Furniture.djvu/297

Rh side. The bookcases are of iron, and are placed at right angles to the walls between the windows. They are each 10 feet in length, and have a central gangway 6 feet in width. The stack-room is two storeys in height. The storey on the ground floor has one tier only of bookcases, 10 feet high, while that on the first floor, which is level with the delivery room, has two tiers, each 7½ feet high. The height of the room is 18 feet, and so a space of 3 feet is left between the top of the upper bookcase and the ceiling.

The bookcases are simple in construction. The uprights are of iron tubes, 1½ inches in diameter, and the shelves, of polished cherry wood, are supported on steel brackets, which slide up and down the uprights, and are kept in place by set screws. The cases are double, and shelve books on either side; they are placed 3 feet apart, and the three bottom shelves are 32 inches from back to front, while those above are 16 inches. This gives a ledge on each side of the case 8 inches deep. The cases used for bound newspaper volumes and large folios are of somewhat different construction. In place of shelves they have a series of wooden rollers, and the books are kept flat on their sides.

The ground floor contains a room for juvenile readers, 56 feet by 24 feet, and several special rooms for patents, medical books, and study. The area available for readers in the large public rooms is nearly 6000 square feet, and gives accommodation for 400 persons, with room for about 100 more in the smaller rooms. The second floor is used at