Page:Library Construction, Architecture, Fittings, and Furniture.djvu/43

Rh examples of how this has been done on four sites of different shapes and areas.

Opinions are divided upon the question of supplying free sanitary and lavatory accommodation for readers. If the library is large, and can afford to engage an attendant, they are most useful adjuncts; but if they have to be left open without supervision, they will prove a nuisance in more senses than one. The provision of a lavatory for hand-washing only is almost necessary for reference libraries, and will repay itself in the better condition in which the books are maintained. A certain amount of dust seems inseparable from the reference department, and it is well to give the scrupulous reader an opportunity to remove it.

Safety from fire is a great consideration, more especially in the larger libraries, where special collections have been formed, or unique specimens of typography or art are stored. In such buildings the rooms for the staff and those used for the administrative work of the library should, if possible, be separated from the book stores. This has been done in the Royal Library at Stuttgart, which is planned in the shape of a capital T (Fig. 6). The central block is entirely administrative, and the reading-room is placed at the junction of the cross-piece with the upright. The book stores are situated on either side, right and left of the reading-room. Space for extension will be provided by building a return at each end of the cross-piece parallel with, and as on