A Guide to the Use of the Beading Boom. 21 



DELIVEEY AND USE OF BOOKS. 



No fixed limit has hitherto been placed on the number of 

 books which can be supplied to each reader. It is hoped that 

 this privilege may continue in future, but in face of the large 

 and growing increase in the number of books daily sent into 

 the Eeading Eoom, this must depend on the co-operation of 

 readers themselves. It does not often happen that more than ten 

 or twelve books are asked for by one person on the same day, but 

 should a larger number be required the reader should deposit in 

 the box only the tickets (not more than ten or twelve) of which 

 he is in immediate need, and should send for the remainder at 

 convenient intervals, about half an hour apart. When a reader 

 who desires to use a large number of books can make it convenient 

 to do so, he will do well, both in his own interest and in that of other 

 readers, to write his tickets and give or send them to the Superin- 

 tendent a day or so before he requires them. In this case, instead 

 of giving the number of his seat he should write Bar beneath his 

 name and give a note of the seat he has taken on the following 

 day to an official at the Central Desk, when the books will be 

 delivered at his seat. 



If the number of books is too large to be conveniently used 

 in the Eeading Eoom they can, with the permission of the Super- 

 intendent, be sent to the North Library [see p. 24), where there is 

 more space. 



As soon as the tickets are placed in one of the boxes at the 

 Central Desk they are despatched through pneumatic tubes to the 

 various parts or Sections of the Library. Here they are received 

 by an official whose duty it is to take the book corresponding 

 to the ticket from the shelf, and to substitute for it a board on 

 which are written the reader's name, the press-mark and enough 

 of the title to enable the book to be identified. The book is 

 then sent to the Eeading Eoom and delivered to the reader at 

 his seat. , 



The time taken to deliver books depends on the following 

 circumstances : — 



(a) The distance of the press in which the book stands from 

 the Eeading Eoom. As far as possible the books most in use are 

 placed within easy reach of the room ; but when it is remembered 

 that there are in the Library several miles of presses and not less 

 than forty-six miles of shelves, it will, be understood that many 

 books are so far distant from the central point that it is a physical 

 impossibility to bring them to it in a few minutes. 



