Page:Library Construction, Architecture, Fittings, and Furniture.djvu/89

Rh and further shelf-room was a crying necessity. The aisles were deemed too narrow for the erection of central presses, and the great cost of extending the building was almost prohibitive, to say nothing of the vast inconvenience of placing the books far from the reading-room.

The difficulty was solved in 1886 in an unexpected manner by the introduction of a series of sliding cases or movable presses, adapted by Mr. Jenner, assistant in the printed book department, from a system of supplementary bookcases hinged upon the presses in need of enlargement, the value of which had been discerned by Mr. Garnett, then assistant keeper of printed books, when he casually saw it in use in the Bethnal Green Free Library. It subsequently appeared that a somewhat similar plan had been introduced into the Bradford Free Library by the ingenious librarian, Mr. Virgo, but this was entirely unknown both at the Museum and at Bethnal Green.

A narrow iron ledge was bolted to a pair of the parallel iron girders which run at right angles across the top of the cases. In each groove thus formed two wheels run, from which are hung, at a distance of a few inches from the floor, a lightly-constructed case of iron-work, with shelves on both of its sides, as shown in Fig. 20. The whole weight of this "hanging press," as it may be termed, rests upon the wheels above. When not in use they are pushed up close to the fixed bookcases, and form a projection of about 16 inches from its suit thus not materially interfering with the light.