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A Library Primer by John Cotton Dana
page 20 of 218 (09%)
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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