Page:The museum, (Jackson, Marget Talbot, 1917).djvu/61

Rh building and must either be treated frankly as an architectural feature or screened behind some form of balustrade. Where practical it is very satisfactory and simple to work with.

OFFICES OF THE STAFF, LIBRARY AND LECTURE ROOMS

One of the commonest mistakes made in the planning of a museum is disregarding the fact that there will be a large amount of office work requiring a series of staff rooms. The staff do not need to occupy rooms of the height and proportion usually assigned to galleries, and it is, therefore, a waste of space to put the offices on the main gallery floor unless they are arranged with a mezzanine. There should be, even in the smallest museum, an office for the Director reached through one for the stenographer, and, as the building increases in size, provision for an assistant director, a bursar, a membership clerk, etc., etc. Small rooms are adequate and greatly to be preferred to one large room where many people work together.

An important point in connection with the offices must be the provision for the records of the museum. For them a fire-proof closet or vault should be built, unless the museum is able to provide safes, as the loss of the documents in