Page:Library Construction, Architecture, Fittings, and Furniture.djvu/314

290 for students studying library economy, a museum, and an art reference room equipped with proper cases and tables for consulting the large and costly art works. The basement has rooms for repairs, rebinding, &c.

The cost of the building and furniture has amounted to $190,000.

The Peabody Institute Library, Baltimore, is one of the best examples of the old conventional buildings, which for many years seemed to be the fixed type and model of what a good library should be.

The great hall (Fig. 130) is 84 feet by 70 feet, and 61 feet in height. Adjoining it, at one end, is a reading-room, 72 feet by 36 feet, and at the other, work-room, librarian's office, elevator, and staircase. The large central hall is divided into seven alcoves on either side by double cases 18 feet in length. They are six storeys in height, the bottom one being 9 feet high, and the others 8. The upper alcoves are reached from staircases placed one at each corner of the room. Light is obtained from two small windows in each alcove, and a skylight covering the whole of the centre of the room. The bookcases will hold about 150,000 volumes, and a second row of double cases may be placed in each alcove, which will materially increase the shelf capacity of the room.

In Chapter I. consideration has already been given to the wastefulness of this style of library building, and nothing more need be said here upon that point. It should, however, be mentioned that this is a favourable example of the type of building.