STUDIES ON MUSEUMS AND KINDRED INSTITUTIONS. 483 



lem of everywhere providing abundance of liolit/ The hio-h, broad, 

 closely spaced windows and the court (see plans) everywhere admit so 

 much dajdight that nothing l)etter could have deen devised. This is 

 especially the case on the eastern and northern sides; also in the 

 delivery room with its large windows at both ends and the glass cupola, 

 as well as in the reading rooms frequented by the public and at the 

 book stacks. Oidy a few inner rooms of the ground floor are so dark 

 that artificial light is necessar}" in the daytime. 



The demand for convenient access to the pul)lic rooms has also been 

 successfully met. The delivery room of the second story, frequented 

 daily by thousands, is convcnientlj^ reached by the magnificent stair- 

 way of the south entrance unless it is preferred to use one of the four 

 elevators near b}^, while the reading rooms of the north and east sides, 

 which likewise are dail}^ visited b}^ thousands, can be directly reached 

 by four elevators, by the south stairway, or by the central stai^wa3^ 

 It is a special and novel architectural characteristic of this library that 

 the reading rooms are situated at the top, while elsewhere the}' are 

 ordinarily placed in a central hall, at ground level, and lighted from 

 above, an arrangement that occupies a large ground area and has, 

 besides, many other disadvantages, as is well known to ever^^one 

 from experience. For this reason the new public library in New 

 York, as already mentioned, adopted the plan of putting the reading 

 rooms in the third story. Besides, the rooms can be much more 

 ([uickly reached by elevators than by stairways, only as in the Chicago 

 Public Library, there must ])e a sufficient number at the disposal of 

 the public. The greatest care has been given to these elevators. 

 They are operated by electric power, therefore run ((uickly and noise- 

 lessly, can be easily stopped or started, and their doors open and 

 close automatically ])y atmospheric pressure. They are perfect. The 

 grill work of the elevator openings at each story is of bronze, and the 

 elevators themselves are ornamented with much ))eautiful bronze work. 

 Besides the eight elevators for the public, there are two for the internal 

 administration and six smaller ones for transporting books to and from 

 the stacks. The elevators cost about $21,000. 



The heating is effected by a direct-indirect system with steam-heat- 

 ing coils for use in cold weather and hot-air blast for milder weather. 

 It is kept up entirely by the exhaust from the engines, and its cost is 

 therefore relatively slight. Recently the so-called smokeless coal has 

 been used, whereb}^ about $6,500 a year have been saved. The tem- 

 perature is in some cases regulated automatically by thermostats, but 

 usually on the spot l)y the opening and closing of heating flues. 



Ventilation. — In the basement seven fans draw out of the building 

 327,000 cubic yards of air an hour through gigantic sheet-iron pipes 

 and seven others blow in 280,000 cubic yards of fresh air. This air 

 is warmed in cold weather, washed by passing through sprays of water, 



