6. In all the libraries of this class in our country, except the Peabody Institute, the open space in the nave of our old Gothic church is used as a general reading-room; and in the Peabody Institute, where another reading-room has been provided, tables have been placed in front of each alcove, cutting off public access to them, at which students may study, if they choose.

There are several objections to the use of this open space for that purpose. It is too public and bustling a place for quiet study. Here the business of the library is done. Readers are applying to the custodians for books, and attendants are running about on the marble floor delivering their orders and taking new instructions. The emptiness overhead is appalling. Crowds of visitors and sight-seers are marching by, admiring the • architecture, expressing their views on what they see, and asking each other, in audible tones, if they suppose the librarians have read all these books and know what they contain. One engaged in study hears remarks which were not intended for his ears, and sees sights which distract his attention. I said at our meeting in Boston: "It is like attempting to study in Scollay square, or on a mall of Boston Common." Those of you who have visited the reading-room of the British Museum will remember the strict precautions which are observed to secure perfect quietude in that sacred precinct. Applications for books are made in writing; and if it be necessary for readers to speak to the attendants, the conversation is in a tone so subdued that no reader can hear it. No person can enter the room unless it be for study, and he must show his ticket. The American librarians who, three years ago, were the guests of Mr. Garnett, the superintendent, were taken to an elevated position overlooking the floor, and the details of the arrangements were explained in whispers.

7. The seventh objection I will mention to this style of architecture is the difficulty of enlarging it. How is this building to be enlarged when the growth of the library demands an extension? Shall it be extended heavenward, and more galleries be piled on these, with more wasted space in the nave, greater difficulty of access to the books, and

more extravagance in the heating? Shall transepts and a chancel be built, so that the plan will represent the true ecclesiastical cross? However pious these improvements, and gratifying to the taste of the refined architect, they are expensive, they involve demolishing much that has already been constructed, and they will give but little additional room. Why library architecture should have been yoked to ecclesiastical architecture, and the two have been made to walk down the ages pari passu, is not obvious, unless it be that librarians in the past needed this stimulus to their religious emotions. The present state of piety in the profession renders the union no longer necessary, and it is time that a bill was filed for a divorce. The same secular common-sense and the same adaptation of means to ends, which have built. the modern grain-elevator and reaper are needed for the reform of library construction.

Any plan for library construction is faulty which does not foresee and provide for future enlargement. The Boston Public Library, with a building like this, has for ten years been struggling with the problem of enlargement, and has at last solved it by resolving to abandon the building and the site with all the ingenious devices and expensive improvements made upon the premises during the past quarter of a century. The last winter the City Council of Boston petitioned the Legislature of Massachusetts for the gift of a block of land in the Back-Bay District for the Public Library, and the petition was granted. Much trouble and expense had been saved if the hopeless and temporary schemes of enlargement, such as dividing the alcoves by double bookcases, had been abandoned years ago. There is probably no library building in the country which has been so much admired (by non-residents) as that of the Boston Library, and none whose worst features have been so generally copied by the smaller libraries. The Astor Library makes its enlargement by erecting another and similar building on an adjacent lot. Its third building is now in process of erection.

The trustees of the Peabody Institute have provided for the increase of its shelving capacity in the same manner as was done in Boston, by In dividing its alcoves with double cases.

anticipation of this change two small windows for each alcove were originally made in the sidewalls, which will light both sides of the double cases when they are built. It is obvious that this arrangement will be a blemish to the architectural effect of the interior. These many windows serve in winter, by their leakage and radiation, to reduce the excessive temperature of the upper galleries; but it is done at an enormous waste of heat.

8. My eighth objection to this sort of library construction is its great cost, compared with a simpler, less pretentious, and more convenient style. The enclosure of so large and high a room as this requires that the outer walls, the girders, and the roof, be of unusual weight and cost. The lantern or skylight in the roof, which ought to be wholly of iron and glass, is expensive. The structure, whose plan is before you, cost $342,000, which includes the cost of two lecture-rooms beneath, and two artrooms above. The Boston Public Library building cost $325,000. The Cincinnati Public Library, with a capacity of 250,000 volumes, cost $350,000. The two structures of the Astor Library, and the third not yet completed, all with a capacity of 300,000 volumes, will cost $398,000. It is a practical question, allowing the plans of these buildings to be the best that can be devised, whether these are not too large sums to be expended for such limited accommodations. Is it not lavishing upon the casket what ought to be spent on the jewels?

I will not detain you longer in discussing this part of my subject. I think I have said enough to justify the statement with which I started out, that "I know of no better rule to be observed in the library architecture of the future than this: Avoid everything that pertains to the plan and construction of the conventional American library building.""

Up to this point I have freely passed judgment upon the plans and buildings of others. I am now to do some construction of my own. "It is easy," says the old proverb, "to criticise; it is not easy to construct." I have no pride of opinion that can be wounded by any strictures which may be made upon my plans. I offer them to be criticised. My only purpose is to secure better principles in our library

architecture, and this can best be done by a free interchange of opinions held by practical librarians. I therefore cordially invite any librarian, architect, or other person present, whose building or plans I have criticised, to take his full measure of revenge upon my work when I have concluded.

In the plans I now lay before you, I propose, on a lot of ground 200 feet square, the construction of a building for a reference library of 1,000,000 volumes; and in order that the library may grow, I expect, upon the same lot, without cramping the space for storage, or changing anything that has been constructed, to provide for 2,000,000, and later for 3,000,000, volumes. By doubling the size of the lot to 400 X 200 feet, 6,000,000 volumes can be provided for. It is proposed to erect no more of this building than is needed to meet present wants, and that additional compartments of similar construction shall be built from time to time as they are required. In devising this plan I have sought to secure the following results: —

1. That the building shall be constructed in compartments, and as nearly fire-proof as is possible, so that if fire starts, it shall be confined in the compartment in which it originates, and the rest of the library be saved.

2. That waste room shall be reduced to a minimum; that convenience and utility shall never yield to architectural effect; and that the building shall be easily and economically heated.

3. That more spacious and convenient quarters than we now have shall be provided for the administrative department and the working rooms of the library.

4. That there shall be no climbing of stairs for books, and no overheating of bindings in galleries.

5. That greater facility of communication between different parts of the library shall be secured; and that the books shall be shelved near the floor, and no higher than they can be reached without step or ladder.

6. That quiet accommodations shall be provided for readers; that separate rooms be assigned to special subjects, and furnished with such special arrangements as they need for their storage and use.

7. That the cost of construction shall be

kept within reasonable limits; and that convenience, utility, and economy shall be the controlling principles in the design.

I do not claim that my plan is the only one that will meet these requirements, but simply that it is one such plan; and, if it serves no other purpose, it may suggest a better design. It has at least the novelty, if not the merit, of being a radical departure from the beaten track. My first requirement is a lot of ground 200 feet square, surrounded on all sides by streets, or, what is better, by other open space. On the middle of the side most appropriate for the

NOTE. A rough sketch (made with printer's rules) may give a general idea of the plan of a single floor. The figures on the outside indicate the dimensions in feet, and on the inside, the storage capacity, in volumes, of each room. The dots within the quadrangle indicate the pillars which support the corridors. The drawings and sketches used by the author in reading his paper at Washington will be given in the edition printed by the United States Bureau of Education.

main entrance I place the central building, 60 feet front, and 75 feet deep, which will be wholly devoted to the administrative superintendence and work of the library. Here will be the offices of the librarian and heads of departments, the catalogues, the most general works of reference, and here the business of the library will be done. Here will be apartments for the cataloguers, and for unpacking

and arranging books. The bindery will occupy the upper story.

The books will be stored, not as now in one general repository, but in a series of rooms thrown out as wings from the central building, and extending around the lot. These rooms will be 50 feet wide, 15 feet high, and as long as it is convenient to make them. The width of the wings will be determined by the space that can be well lighted by side windows, and that can be spanned by iron girders without pillars. Ten of these rooms are indicated on the plan before you, and, carrying the same construction four stories high, there will be 40 of these rooms in the whole structure. Each of the rooms will contain the books on some special subject, or in the early stage of growth, several related subjects. One room will be devoted to the Fine Arts, and will have the proper cases, tables, and other appliances for shelving and studying the large and expensive illustrated works which belong to such a collection. Another room will have the Mechanic Arts, with such other arrangements as is required. Another room will contain History, and, when the library has grown to a million volumes or more, perhaps American History only. Political Economy and Social Science will be found in another room, and so on through the different classifications of knowledge. These rooms will have no alcoves nor galleries; for alcoves I regard as useless, and galleries an unpardonable nuisance. The books will be shelved in wall-cases and double cases not higher than a person can reach. The plan of shelving the books is the same which I have already described in speaking of the floor plan for the Peabody Institute. High light will be taken on the exterior side from windows above the wall-cases. Each room will have light from two sides, and will be furnished with tables, chairs, and all the conveniences for quiet study. The reading-desks will be on the inner side where there are no wallcases, and hence the windows looking into the quadrangle will be of full length. The attendant in charge will have an opportunity to become acquainted with the books in his department, and competent to assist readers in their investigations.

There is, therefore, no occasion or need of a general reading-room, other than the one in which are kept the encyclopædias, dictionaries, and the general works of reference. Special dictionaries may be shelved with their own departments, and to some extent general works of reference may be duplicated. When it is necessary, books can be loaned from one department to another, as they are now sent to the reading-room. The building will be supplied with telephones and all the modern appliances for communication, As a general rule, readers will go to the room which contains the class of books which they wish to study. As a protection from fire, each room used for the storage of books is cut off from every other room by a brick fire-wall extending through the roof. The only access to these rooms will be by a light iron corridor at each story, seven feet wide, running around on the inside of the quadrangle, as indicated on the plan. In winter these corridors may be enclosed by glass windows, which can be removed in the summer. The long windows in the quadrangle will give abundant light, notwithstanding the small amount which will be intercepted by the corridors. Every floor will also be made thoroughly fire-proof. They will be laid on rolled-iron beams, supported by lattice girders, the space between the beams being filled with porous terra-cotta; and the beams will be covered with concrete, upon which the flooring will be laid. The girders will also be protected by an ornamental covering of terra-cotta, which will serve as a decoration for the ceiling of the room below. Without such covering, iron, in case of fire, is the most treacherous of all building material. If by accident fire should start in any one of these forty rooms, it could not endanger the safety of the other thirty-nine.

This arrangement of access to the rooms by means of corridors serves another purpose besides being a protection from fire. It is a protection against tramps and sight-seers, who would be marching in crowds through these wings if there were a passage-way through them, as in the Louvre at Paris. Such a passageway would take up a good deal of room, would interfere with the arrangements for shelving the books, and would disturb the quietude

which is needed for study. It is a delusion to depend on iron doors between the rooms as a protection from fire; for, in such an emergency, iron doors are always found to have been left

open.

In the rear of the central building will be an elevator, which will land readers upon the level of any of the corridors. As the centraf building will not be used for the storage of books, it will have stair-ways, besides the elevator, for reaching its several stories. In case of accident to the elevator, the stair-ways can be used for access to the upper corridors. On the rear side of the quadrangle there will a stairway connecting the several corridors. If time allowed I might speak of other details of construction.

We will now consider the storage capacity of this building, and first of a single floor. Deducting the space covered by the walls, there are 25,250 square feet of flooring in these wings. Deducting still further one-fifth of this space (or 5,050 feet) for the tables and other accommodations of readers, we have 20,200 feet which can be used for bookcases. By the rule we have already demonstrated, that each square foot will shelve 25 volumes, we have for the shelving capacity of this story 505,000 volumes, and of the four stories 2,020,000 volumes. The ceiling of the upper story is only 66 feet above the lower floor, and, if more space be needed, the walls may be carried two stories higher, which will give accommodations for another million volumes. The walls will then not be higher than many of the blocks in our commercial cities, which, by means of elevators, are used as business offices to their upper stories.

By extending the front wings 100 feet on each side, and carrying them back to the rear line, leaving an area 50 feet wide for light and ventilation, we have accommodations for 3,000,000 volumes more, or 6,000,000 on a lot of 400 X 200 feet. By extending this construction over a lot 400 X 450 feet, as in the plan before you, we have a capacity of 12,000,000 volumes.

It is desirable for many reasons that a large reference library should be surrounded by wide open space, and should be away from business

centres. Such lots are not always available in a large city, and it is necessary to erect the building on a business block. A construction such as I have described is favorable for such a locality. A large number of volumes can be provided for on a lot of moderate size, and as a source of revenue the basement story could be used for business purposes. The building with its fire-proof construction would not be endangered in case one of the basement apartments should take fire. Whether it could live in such a furnace as the great Chicago fire is a question. I have thus far considered only the wants of a reference library like the British Museum, the Astor Library, and the Peabody Institute. It may be necessary to provide also for a circulating department. One of these front rooms, which will shelve 67,500 volumes, may be used for this purpose. The circulating department may be located in the basement whose storage capacity has not been included in our previous estimates. There is a clear open space in the quadrangle, nearly 90 feet square, for which no provision has yet been made. A one-story structure, lighted from above and covering this space, will not interfere with the light of the reference department. It will contain 120,000 books for circulation, with ample space for waiting and delivery-rooms. Access to it might be had on the basement floor under the main entrance to the reference department.

One very important part of the subject remains to be considered, viz., the cost of the building. In this matter I have not ventured to trust my own judgment, and have relied wholly on the careful and detailed estimates of one of the most experienced and conservative architects in Chicago, Mr. Wm. H. Willcox,

who has built many large structures, and is now building the State-house at Lincoln, Neb., which will cost $1,250,000. I have his estimates with me; and, as they are too long for me to read, I will only state the results.

The estimates are made on a building such as has been described, covering a lot 200 feet square, five stories high, including the basement, and having a capacity of shelving 2,000,000 volumes. The exterior will be of sandstone, in simple yet characteristic design. The building is to be absolutely fireproof, with brick walls and iron beams, iron window frames and sashes, and steel inside blinds to all exterior windows. The interior iron-work will be covered with porous terracotta, or other fire-resisting material. The floors in the book-rooms will be of hard-wood, and in the vestibule and inside corridors of tiling. The walls of the same will be wainscoted in stone and tile. The cost of the building complete, including the steam apparatus for heating, but not including the shelving and furniture, will be $530,000. The shelving, which will be of hard-wood, with the furniture, will cost $110,000, making the entire cost of the building in readiness for occupation $640,000. The cost of construction, on the basis of storage capacity, in the Boston Public Library, is $1.30 per volume; in the Astor Library, $1.33; in the Cincinnati Public Library, $1.40; and in the Peabody Institute, $2.00. In the plan I have laid before you, the cost of construction, estimated on the same basis, is 32 cents per volume.

I will take no more of your time in presenting this subject, and shall now be happy to reply to any inquiries which may be made.