CHAPTER X

MISCELLANEOUS FIXTURES AND FITTINGS

=130.= It is important to note that all fittings which are fixtures, as are most of those about to be described in the following chapter, should be regarded as part of the permanent structure, and not as movable furniture. Such fittings should be included in the loan raised for building, which can be borrowed for thirty years, and not in that raised for furniture, which can only be borrowed for ten years. The additional twenty years for which money can be borrowed for permanent buildings will be found to make a very considerable difference in the annual repayments.

=131. Counters and Barriers.=--Counters and barriers are required chiefly in lending and reference libraries, or in situations where it is necessary to cut readers off from books or private rooms. No lending library counter which has to carry an indicator should be more than thirty inches high and eighteen inches wide, and for ledger or card charging and open access the dimensions need not be more than thirty-two inches high and two feet wide. Reference library counters for cutting readers off from the books and for service should be thirty-two inches high and two feet wide. All counters should be fitted on the staff side with shelves and cupboards, and on the public side the panelling should be raised at least four inches from the floor to prevent it from being kicked and marked. It is a useful plan to fit up the back of a long counter with shelves, drawers and cupboards alternately, as shown in diagram on the next page (Fig. 23).

This arrangement can be carried out to any extent and in any order, according to space. In lending library counters a slot for money should be made in the top of the counter over one of the small locked drawers. This will form the till for cash receipts from fines, the sale of catalogues, etc.

=132.= Barriers for open access lending and reference libraries are made in various forms. In small open access libraries the barriers need only be large enough to control the entrances and exits of readers.

=133.= Lending library barriers for open access are planned in a variety of ways to take charging trays, etc. The following are typical illustrations of barriers or combined counters and screens specially designed for open access libraries. The object of the glazed screen is to protect the staff from draughts and the charging system from being tampered with. The plans and views of open access barriers in Figs. 24-25 show the usual arrangement for ordinary purposes, and an imaginary design for a library doing a very large business requiring three assistants at each side is shown in Fig. 28. By means of this it would be possible for six assistants, three at each side, to discharge and charge books at the rate of 1400 per hour, a speed never required anywhere.

For all practical purposes a barrier with two wickets on the entrance side and one at the exit will serve for the largest single library in existence (Fig. 27). The treadle latches such as are fitted in the open access libraries of Croydon, Clerkenwell, Hornsey, Lambeth, Darwen, Southport, etc., will be found well adapted for the purpose of controlling the wickets of both single and double open access barriers (Fig. 29).

The chief objection to wickets hinged at one side is their tendency to slam, no matter what kind of controlling springs or buffers are used. In course of time every form of pneumatic or other spring loses its power, and some effective form of noiseless turnstile or very light barrier on rising butts would perhaps be an improvement. Where lending libraries are isolated, the trouble is not so marked as in cases where they adjoin reading rooms.

=134.= The plans already printed (Figs. 18-22) explain better than words the form of counters best adapted for lending libraries using the indicator system of issue.

The space for borrowers in front of an indicator ought not to be less than four square feet per person likely to be present at one time, in order to prevent crowding at busy times. Thus a town with 3000 borrowers would have an average daily issue of about 300 volumes, which might mean seventy-five people present at one time, counting companions, and thus 300 square feet of borrowers’ lobby would be necessary as a minimum; or a space 30 by 10 feet. It is not often, however, that one finds lobbies planned on this desirable scale. The height of a counter designed to carry an indicator should not exceed thirty inches, and the top need not be more than eighteen inches wide. The length of the counter will depend entirely upon the kind of indicator used, and whether it is classified or not, or intended for all the stock or only for fiction. The indicators most used all differ in size (see Section 386, etc.), and this factor must be taken into account in designing the counter.

=135.= Sometimes a simple barrier is required in some kinds of reference libraries to separate bookcases from reading rooms. This may be either fixed or movable, and a good form can be constructed of ornamental ironwork, surmounted by a polished oak or walnut rail, about four to six inches wide, in the style of illustration (Fig. 30).

=136. Screens.=--In small libraries with a small staff it is often possible to obtain complete oversight of nearly every department by using glazed partitions or screens instead of opaque internal walls. In cases where there is no roof weight to be supported this is a very good arrangement, and is recommended for every building to which it can be applied. When such partitions separate rooms, it is advisable to carry them right up to the ceiling to exclude noise. In other situations, as when dividing a room into two or more sections, the screens need not be more than eight or nine feet high. Clear glass should be used throughout, unless in the upper panels, for the sake of both oversight and light.

=137. Lifts.=--In large libraries with many floors, passenger or other lifts for carrying heavy weights are desirable. In a building with two or more floors, an ordinary lift for transporting parcels of books to the extent of perhaps two hundredweights should be provided in a convenient place, preferably against a wall. Such lifts should have automatic brakes and simple raising and lowering mechanism; but an electric motor will be found less noisy and easier to work than any form of rope lift. In addition, it is often of greater service to have small, quick-running lifts or tubes capable of carrying one to six single books from floor to floor. In cases where lending library books are issued for reading in the reading room, this is a very convenient arrangement, and it also greatly facilitates the work of the staff by enabling messages and small articles to be rapidly transferred from place to place.

=138. Speaking Tubes and Telephones.=--Speaking tubes connecting every department should be provided in all new buildings, if telephones have not already been fixed. The telephone is much easier applied to an existing building, as there is less cutting about of walls required. But in new buildings speaking tubes can be provided quite easily, and they are simpler to work and less liable to get out of order than telephones. The telephone should be provided for every large public library, which ought to be connected with the municipal offices, the telephone exchange and its own branches. It is often possible for a public library to obtain a sufficient service by having a wire from the town hall switchboard to the library. The annual cost of this is only about one-fourth of the regular exchange service. For a complicated internal service of inter-communications, the telephone is much superior to speaking tubes, as the switchboard system enables the user to communicate with any department without the need of extra tubes.

=139. Miscellaneous.=--In some libraries accommodation for CYCLES is provided outside the buildings, which is the proper place for such machines, in view of their tendency to do damage when placed against interior walls. In buildings which front busy main streets this kind of accommodation cannot be provided unless there is a courtyard or similar space in front. Some libraries which are infested by DOGS would be all the better of some effective means of keeping such animals outside. No doubt, if their owners were spoken to, they would agree to fasten them to hooks or rails outside the building, if proper means were provided.

=140.= TURNSTILES for counting purposes are fitted up in several libraries, as well as in most museums, art galleries, etc. They should be placed in situations where their noisy clacking will not prove disturbing, if they are used at all.

=141.= Good English CLOCKS, with conspicuous dials, should be placed in every public room of a library. Where a number are provided, it is better to specify electrically controlled or synchronized clocks, which keep uniform time and are much less troublesome than ordinary self-wound clocks. Libraries should have a supply of small THERMOMETERS distributed and fixed throughout the rooms as a check upon the internal temperature, and it is a useful thing to provide a barometer as well. Bold visible CALENDARS are also desirable in every department.

=142= BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brown, J. D. Furniture. _See his_ Library Appliances, p. 12.

Burgoyne, F. J. Furniture and Appliances. _See his_ Library Architecture, pp. 73-127.

Carr, H. J. Fixtures, Furniture and Fittings. U.S. Educ. Rept., 1892-1893, vol. i., p. 733.

Champneys, A. L. Public Libraries, 1907. Batsford.

For articles, see Cannons, E 24-D 47, Library Appliances and Supplies.