Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-10-19

@Al E1< mediate usefulness
@1lH to anybody have
>~ been transferred. Mr..
Spofford proposes to
effect the removal by degrees, and in such
a way that the great collection under his
charge shall be kept open to the public
without any interruption by the change.
There is scarcely any doubt that a tenn
porary elevated railway will be built for
transferring the contents of the old library
to the new one. 1t will run directly from
the floor of the rotunda of the Capitol to
the main floor of the building with the
golden dome. Over it small cars, propelled
by electricity, will carry loads of books.
When the job is finished the structure on
stills can be taken down and removed. The
expense involved will not be great. This is
Mr.. Spofford's idea. Mr.. Bernard Greene,
the engineer in charge, has given up his
plan, which was to utilize the tunnel that
connects the Capitol with the new library.
This is a brick-lined conduit, three feet I'M
der ground, through which runs an electric
car on wheels. This would serve to convey
| the volumes. but they would have TO be
lowered into the tunnel at one end and lift
ed at the other to the main floor of the IL
| brary. involving much waste of labor
Will Be Kept Together.
The library will be moved not all at once.
but gradually, division after division. Po-
| etry is one division and fiction is another.
Each division will be arranged by authors
alphabetically. The divisions are split up
! into classes American biography is class
| and British biography Is another. Each
class will be arranged by authors accord
| ing to the alphabet.
! This method is original with Mr.. Spofford.
| By an ingenious system of juggling with
| the alphabet, the new library will be ar
| ranged in such fashion that any one Of
! its 6S5, 600 bound volumes 100000 PAM
| phlets can be touched at a moments no
| t;ce. The great stacks of book shelves are
| so constructed that any class or division
may be extended Indefinitely without any
| trouble. These bookstackS have been lik
| ened to gigantic honeycombs of iron. There
| are three of them, the two great ones being
| each sixty-five feet high, one hundred and
| twelve feet long and forty-five feet wide.
Each of these mighty book cases will hold
| SooG1 volumes-more than the present en-
| tire contents of the library of Congress.
The biggest books in the library of Con-
gress are bound files of old-fashioned news
papers. Among the heaviest are Bibles
printed in the middle ages. with brass
clasps and covers of wood an inch thick.
| Contrasted with these giants of the collec-
| ton are dwarfs three inches by two in size.
| such as waistcoat-pocket editions of Horace
and other classics There are 10000 bound
| volumes of newspaper files Mr. Spofford
| binds regularly at least two newspapers
representing each political party in ev-
cry state and territory. In addition to
cities. The library of music is not bound
as yet, though it will be some day. 1t COM
prises over 1.0OO,OOO compositions. All of
them have been contributed by publishers
desiring copyrights.
Rare and Queer Books.
The total bulk Of these unbound pieces of
music Is enormous. yet they will be so ar
ranged that any one Of them can be found at
a minutes notice. In the new building there
will be room devoted exclusively to works
relating in one way or another to George
Washington. Besides, Mr.. Spofford pro-
poses to establish a literary museum, in
which rare and queer books of all sorts will
be displayed under glass. Among them will
be old Bibles and other volumes copied and
Illuminated by medieval monks. There will
be art gallery for exhibiting the best of
the pictures copyrighted during the last few
years, and separate room will be devoted
to maps.
The bootstacks. which tower to the ..oof
of the building are nine stories or tiers in
height. They could just as easily have been
made nineteen stories high, or twenty-nine
stories. increasing proportlonately the stor-
age capacity for books. They are wholly of
iron. floors as well as cases.
Like an Office Building.
Hand elevators, telephones, pneumatic
tubes and other mechanical devices render
the huge bootstacks like lofty modern
office building, equally useful and conve-
n!ent in all its parts. Little cars attached
to endless chains will do all the handling
of the volumes carrying them from the
stacks to the great central reading room
and back again. The cars will run benea tn
the floor of the reading room, and all the MA
chinery will be noiseless and invisible. When
a. volume is wanted Mr.. Spofford will take
the paper ticket, signed by the reader, bear
ing the title of the work, and will drop it into
the pneumatic tube that communicates with
the stack and tier where that book is TO be
found.
In seconds time 1t is whisked through the
pipe and delivered to the assistant librarian
in charge of that division of the library. He
takes the book from the shelf and puts 1t
upon the first car that passes on its way
downward to the reading room. On it's ar
rival there it is dumped automatically upon
Mr.. Spofford's desk.
1t is one thing to have library and quite
another to make the books accessible. In
the new lib airy of Congress the reader will
be able to get book in small fraction of
the time required al the British Museum or
in any other great library of the world. BY
telephones, pneumatic tubes and electric
signals Mr.. Spofford will be placed in imme-
date touch with every volume in the build
ing. He can, 1t may be said place his hand
at an instants notice on any one Of the
| 100000 books and pamphlets. At the same
| time he is connected by telephone with The
Senate and with the House Of Representa-
tives.
BY Telephone to Congress.
certain book Without leaving the legsla-
| tive chamber he will be able to converse
with Mr.. Spofford as easily as If that gen
| tleman were at his elbow. The apparatus
employed will be of quality so unusually
| fine that the faintest whisper will be clear
| ly audible, making talking easy. Mr.. Spot
| ford will instantly procure the volume
| quired and will send it by the electric car
| through the underground conduit to the
Capitol. The car will deliver it automati-
cally in a room adjoining the rotunda.
There a messenger will grab it and carry
| it to the member. Congressman will get
books from the new library much more
| easily and quickly than they have obtained
| them heretofore from the same collection
| housed in the Capitol. Besides having the
| telephone at his ear, Mr. Spofford will be
connected with the Capitol by pneumatic
| tube that runs through the subterranean
| tunnel. Through this tube Congressman
will dispatch slips with written orders.
Arranging the Books.
On reaching the new library building. by
| way Of the temporary railway on stilts the
| books in process Of moving will be delivered
| in the central reading room, whence they