A Library Primer by John Cotton Dana
page 20 of 218 (09%)
page 20 of 218 (09%)
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accumulate while trustees and librarian gain experience, and the needs
of the library become more definite. Plans should be made with the future enlargement of the building in view; libraries increase more rapidly than is generally supposed. Rooms of peculiar architecture are not required for the original occupation and organization of a library. The essential requirements are a central location, easy access, ample space, and sufficient light. The library and the reading room should be, if possible, on the same floor. Make the exterior attractive, and the entrance inviting. In arranging the rooms, or building, plan from the first, as already suggested, to permit visitors to go to the books themselves. A collection of the printed matter on library architecture should be carefully studied by both trustees and librarian before any plans are made. While no specific plan can be recommended that would suit all cases, there are a few general rules that meet with the approval of the library profession as a whole. They maybe thus summed up, following in the main a paper on the subject by C.C. Soule: "A library building should be planned for library work. Every library building should be planned especially for the kind of work to be done, and the community to be served. The interior arrangement ought to be planned before the exterior is considered. No convenience of arrangement should be sacrificed for mere architectural effect. |
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