454 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1903. 



building', which was phmncd for other purposes, the lighting is not 

 in all parts sufficient. Including the rooms in the fifth story there 

 are accommodations for C^}5,000 books. It w^ould be a mistake to sup- 

 pose that the elevated situation of the sixth story makes it difficult of 

 access, for there are three elevators in operation^' by which the sixth 

 floor can be I'eached sooner than by clim])ing- the stairway even to the sec- 

 ond floor. The building is fireproof and, like many American houses, 

 has fire-escape ladders on the outside; within only extinguishers are used 

 for security. The floors are covered with cork linoleum of the best 

 quality, about a third of an inch thick. The house furnishes steam 

 heat and electric light. There is no special arrangement for ventila- 

 tion,* the high rooms, large windows, and elevator shafts sufficing to 

 change the air. In a later building it is proposed to seal the windows 

 hermetically and to force in filtered and purified air, a system now 

 api)lied in many places, as in the Congressional Library at \\'ashing- 

 ton, and of which I shall speak more fully under the Pu])lic Library 

 of Chicago. Recently there has been established a small auditorium 

 for 30 persons, which can also b^ used by scientific societies, such as 

 the Bibliographical Society, the Entomological Society, the Mycological 

 Societj^ the Illinois Association of Public Accountants, and the Insti- 

 tute of Education. There is a special lunch room for employees. 



The book stacks are of iron, the other furniture of wood. In spite 

 of the excellent examples in Boston, New York, and elsewhere, and 

 notwithstanding the rigorous application of this principle in the 

 Chicago Historical Society (see p. 489), wooden furniture has been 

 employed, and this will always offer a point of attack for fire. The 

 iron book stacks, as well as most of the wooden library furniture, 

 were furnished by the Librar}^ Bureau of Boston, a grand institution 

 which I hope to be able to describe in the course of ni}^ reports. 

 Their model for book stacks, however, is not as satisfactory as many 

 others (see p. 382). It is less stable and the ends are overornamented, 

 creating a bad impression when a number are taken together. The 

 shelves are of white wood veneered with oak, instead of iron. The 

 newer racks in the fifth story are, as I have recently been informed, 

 steadier, less ornamented, and smoother, whereb}^ the books are less 

 liable to injury. A practical form of book support '^ is used to prevent 



« There is also one for freight. Two of the three passenger elevators go directly to 

 the John Crerar Library, without stopping at the intervening floors; they are the 

 so-called "express trains." 



^ Except that in the window frames of the reading room there is provided a small 

 ventilating apparatus which the American Ventilator Company has patented and called 

 the " sash ventilator and lifter combined." It consists essentially of perforating the 

 lower window frame with holes through which air may enter if it is desired. 



'Furnished by John Joseph McVey, publisher, etc., 39 North Thirteenth street, 

 Philadelphia. Cost, $10 a hundred. This firm also makes another kind of book 

 support with label holders, 



