Bisbee daily review., 1908-04-30
View Of the sook-stack, Lower Floor.

ing. Inside one notes that the archi-
tects have avoided the note of exces-
sive spaciousness which would beft
only some exposition building or a
place Of public entertainment The
yaulted entrance hall, from which the
staircases rise on either side, is a
work of massive simplicity and it may
be noted in passing that the stone
piers, arches. and roof of this part
Of the building all illustrate the sin
cerest kind Of obstruction. We have
here not a scheme of steel with a
thin facing of richer material, but q
remarkable piece of pure masonry.
The building when completed win
contain 800 rooms, vaults and halls. 1t
will have a total floor space Of 375,000
square feet, or nearly nine acres. The
room of most interest to the general
public-the main reading-room-is de-
scribed in these words:
THE bare brick walls, now rising
to roof webbed with steel, are hard
ly more austere than they will be
when they are sheathed. but to relieve
a magnificently decorated ceiling. The
architects have had, too, fortunate
inspiration in the matter OF the adj
ministrative machinery indispensable
to this room They have designed,
I to be thrown across its center, sort
of double screen, within which the
| Teading-room attaches will perform
their duties. Large enough to break
and accent the long horizontal lines
of the room, this screen is not SO
large as to disturb the grand effect OF
the whole Experience has shown that
| it is an easy thing for an architect to
make a public building dull and heavy
or, in the effort TO avoid those defects,
| to be restless and even vulgar. In
the new library the golden mean
seems to have been reached. The in
terror is animated and airy, though II
| is also majestic. There are certain
minor features, like the screen men
| toned above, the series of pillars in
| the central exhibition room on the
| first floor, the pillared vesubule on
! the Forty-second street side, and the
| staircase, likewise in that part Of the
building, which are especially to be
singled out for the quality of grace
! that is in them. Yet In the long run,
analysis comes back TO the bold struc-
tural unity OF the design"
The great room for the storage
Of books gives some idea of the pres
ent and contemplative resources OF
the library for the satisfaction of the
inquiring student This stack-room Is
one Of the striking features OF the IL
brary, and constitutes a mechanical
study of itself 1t is 297 feet long, IS
feet wide. and is made up OF seven
floors, each seven feet six inches high.
The construction Of the stacks is OF
small steel beams and angles, into
which floor slabs of marble one and
one-half inches thick are to be fitted.
In its present state the big stacks
form a veritable wilderness OF steel.
The striking feature of the stack-case
however, is found In its great linear
extent of shelves. There are So miles
of them, and IL 30 miles is fair dis
lance for the average man to walk
in a ten-hour day two days would be
, required to traverse their entire
length, were they arranged so that
each shelf could be followed from end
, to end. And this relates only to the
| shelving of the main stack-room. The
shelving throughout the building u
laid end to end would reach from New
. York to Philadelphia, or about 81
, miles.
Allowing ten volumes Of average
| thickness to the foot the new u
} brary's main stack room has a cspac
ity of 100000 books. The capacity
: OF the other shelves in the building Il
placed at 100000. making the build
, Ings total capacity s.50o.ooo books-