Page:The library a magazine of bibliography and library literature, Volume 6.djvu/359

. The Clerkenwell Open Lending Library. 347 men," &c., each being kept in alphabetical order, according to subject of biography, e.g., all separate lives of Goethe, Wellington, Gladstone, or Queen Victoria will be found together. The same principle is carried right through every class, save in very small subjects or groups of subjects, when alphabetization is not attempted. To minimize the difficulty of detecting mis- placements every shelf has its books labelled a different colour, and opposing bookcases, having different classes, are further distinguished by having differently shaped labels. Nine shelf colours, and six class shapes are used, and the whole of the shapes are made from one square form by division, cross-cutting, &c. We are rather troubled by our book-labels peeling off, and should be glad to learn of any paste or glue which will stick thin labels firmly in place. In addition each shelf is numbered, and its number is carried on to the label on the backs of the books, as well as on to the label inside the books. The book-cases being too high, it was necessary to stop out two shelves in each tier, and re-arrange and compress the remaining nine shelves, so that the bottom one should not be close to the floor, while the top one should be within easy seeing and reaching distance by means of 1 8-inch steps. These, then, were the principal structural alterations made necessary by the change. The charging system is very simple and will be easily com- prehended by a brief description of the operation of first issuing a book to a new reader and discharging it on return. When the applicant presents himself at the barrier he finds that he cannot walk right into the library, as he may have supposed, on account of a wicket which is locked. He next finds, on giving his " ticket-voucher " to the assistant, that it was a very good thing he was not trying to personate someone else in order to get free access to the library, because he has to give his proper name, and the assistant makes sure that the number on the "ticket- voucher " agrees with that on the actual reader's card, which was made out from the voucher form and is now taken from the alphabetical sequence already mentioned. Having made certain that the reader is entitled to borrow, that his umbrella and hand- bag are taken in return for numbered tokens, and that his dog, bicycle and three companions remain outside, the assistant presses with his foot a small lever which draws back the spring bolt which locks the wicket, and the reader, empty-handed and alone, passes into the library : the wicket immediately shutting and locking again. These precautions are taken, not out of