Morning journal and courier., 1884-10-22
The Columbia College Library.

The most important interior feature of the new building is the noble library hall, a room | of grand proportions, with triple-arch roof | supported by iron truss-work, so that the floor space-113 by 75 feet-is unbroken by divisions. A gallery makes the circuit of it, and the walls, within reaching distance of | the floor and of the gallery, are lined with 1 that best of decorations, books. The Phoe- nix collection, of about seven thousand val I uable and rare books, occupies the entire | south gallery. The general arrangement is 1 by subjects, and every frequenter of the H. ! brary has unquestioned access to the twenty 1 five thousand volumes here shelved as a ref erence library. The floor is dotted with ta- bles to which the reader may freely take as many books as he requires, and as the dusk comes on, a tap of the bell from the librari- ans room to the Engineer puts at his dispo- sal movable electric light which he may turn on or off at will. All the tables have individual lights, and the shades for these burners and for those about the room were
 so arranged, in consultation with Dr. c. R.
 Agnew, who is one of the trustees, that all
 the light falls on the books or tables, and no
 ray glares into the readers eye. The assist
 ant librarians have their desks on the main
 floor, and are ready to put their knowledge
 of their special subjects at the service of the
 reader. It is pleasant to note that the con
 veniences of this library are to be extended
 not only to the sixteen hundred members of the university and it's alumni, but to such other scholars as may rightly seek it's pr1v1- leges; so that what the Astor and Lenox H- braries have not given to New Workers, Co
 lumbia will give-a working library open ev- cry day in the year except Sundays and Good Friday, and from eight, morning, till ten, night
 Such facilities as these are made possible only by the adoption of the improved library methods and fittings resulting from the mod ern library cooperation, of which the new librarian, MT. Melvil Dewey, has been lead
 ing apostle. The modern librarian aims,
 above all, to have his books used, to give
 them the greatest accessibility at the least
 possible inconvenience to the reader, albeit
 to the dire disturbance of the old-fashioned
 bookkeeper, who fears his precious books
 will be hurt by using. In respect of facili-
 ty of use, the Columbia college library prom
 ises to be the most notable in the country.
 The libraries of the several schools are now
 brought together under one administration, and the law librarian the science librarian,
 and other specialists are staff officers of the
 university librarian. They, in turn, have
 the help of a staff of bright Wellesley girls,
 of the class of 1883, who are trained cata-
 loguers and library assistants. The staff
 hours are so arranged that no one need work
 more than seven hours. Catalogueing goes
 on without closing any part of the library; it will require three years to complete the work.
 The system of registry, which makes free use possible is centered in a desk at the very entrance, in the transept of the great hall. This desk is in easy communication, by l means of sliding boxes, with the stack-rooms, l in which the body of the collection not need | ed for reference is packed with such economy l 41,o4o INrr% 1 ty-two feet, houses forty thousand volumes | These are, indeed, catacombs of books, with lettered avenues and numbered streets but | twenty-six inches wide, so that book can | be had instantly when called for from the | card directory below. Each book has pasted l inside it's cover pocket, into which slips a | book-card: each reader is represented also by | card arranged according to his initials in a | case st the registry desk. The books num- | Der is entered on the readers card; the read 1 CT signs his initials on the books card, which while the book is out, is kept in second case
 at the registry desk, arranged by subjects: | Thus any book 'sout" can be instantly traced1 and the receipt for it produced When 8 reader wishes to return book he has only to hand it in at the registry desk; and if he is | in a super American hurry, he need not wait even the instant required to make sure that
 the attendant, by stamping the date of re- l turn on the book-card, has cancelled his re- celpt. There IS no nelQ III WHICH InOuefn or ganization has achieved greater triumph
 than in this single example of library admin istration.
 The library itself has been of slow growth, that of Kings college, which should have
 been it's nucleus, having apparently been dis
 persed during the Revolution by the seizure of the college buildings for military purposes. In 1906 six hundred volumes from it came to light in room in St. Paul's chapel Several
 donations and purchases had increased the
 collection in 1862 to sixteen thousand vol
 umes, valued at thirty four thousand dollars.
 In 1882 the munifcent bequest of Stephen Whitney Phoenix brought to the college his
 superb collection. The united libraries in 1883 numbered fifty thousand volumes, and
 the aecessions this year add about twelve thousand more. In the upper stack-room is housed the fine Torrey herbarium, covering sixty thousand specimens, and valued at over
 twenty-five thousand dollars. Above the
 wing of the library building is the tower and
 paper dome of the astronomical observatory,
 with the Rutherford telescope and transit in
 strument.