Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-07
LIBRARY MOVES
TOLARGE ROOMS
NEW QUARTERS HAVE TRIPLE
READING SPACE
LOS ANGELES INSTITUTION Is
AMONG THE BEST
Ia the Largest West of ST. Louls and
Possesses Unique Features Which
Widely Advertise the
City

The removal Of the public library,
which begins today, will give many of
It's patrons a better appreciation of the
magnitude of this institution. The
books, generally thought to be the
large end of a library, are less than
half the battle. They are equaled in
bulk by files. although there are ap-
proximately 10000 books to be trans
ferred this week.
When the library was moved in
March, 1906, from its unsatisfactory
quarters in the city hall to the $4,000
square feet secured in the Homer
Laughlin annex on Hill street 1t was
thought that the quarters then taken
would be ample until the city could
erect a suitable building. Floor space
and table and chair accommodations
were tripled, but In about a years
time they were found less adequate
than the city hall rooms. An Increase
In facilities brought a corresponding
increase in use.
This weeks removal again trebles
the reading space, gives ten times the
cent greater and with magnlncent
view of city, mountains and beaches,
and with book stacks and other facil-
tiles in similar larger proportions.
The new location will give the library
nearly $4,000 square feet of floor space
and more than 5000 square feet of Win
dows for reading and work rooms
alone. The electric lighting, which is
a feature Of the new arrangements, is
On ho al nf GiXfGan-nAn6lA
to every forty square feet of floor In
the reading rooms and to every sixty
square feet elsewhere In combination
with the system of blast ventilation
maintained in the Hamburger building
this will enable the library to main
tain its record established in the last
two years OF being as well lighted and
ventilated as any in America. In point
of size the institution is the largest
public library west of st. Louis.
The lease on the new quarters Is for
five years, but the lease contains q
provision permitting the library direc-
tors to cancel it II at any time prior
to its expiration the library secures its
own building. Another clause gives
the privilege of renewing the lease for
five years more.
Features of New Quarters
A valuable phase of the new quarters
is the SIT feet of outside frontage which
the main rooms will enjoy, of which
800 feet Is on Eighth street with a
north light. The newspaper reading
room, which will be moved later from
the Baker block, will have 5000 square
feet In the basement, convenient to the
elevators.
While DR.. Lummis is extremely
proud of the many good features of
the new housing of the library he will
Gea1 xRvnfh Il fxt q
building erected for the main library
and an adequate provision for the
branches, which are now necessarily
taken care of in inferior and rented
buildings. The housing question Is
only one Of a number of large problems
which he has tackled on behalf of the
library, some of which he has already
solved.
The greatest of these was undoubt-
edly the cutting out of the unreason-
able red tape system in the registry
department, which, up to the adoption
of the present plan, was characterized
by Librarian Lummis as somewhat
like going through the New York GUS
toms house after trip to Europe"
Under present rules for registration
any person whose name appears In the
current city directory or who Is
vouched for by some one listed in the
directory may obtain card simply by
applying for 1t.
Another recent reform which effects
q material saving is a revolutionary
change in methods of rebinding, which
saves over $4,000 a year. The patent
bindings used, which are the best OBJ
tainabie. are devices worked out by
California inventors.
Great Reputation Elsewhere
f1I1I 1Ixy
adopted which have given the library
an enviable reputation elsewhere in
the country. The roof garden and
training classes are established feat
ures which have greatly advertised
Los Angeles. Another of later adop-
'tion is the plan of acquainting those
who should be patrons with the value
of the library. The extension work
has been valuable in this line and the
librarians purpose is to introduce mod
ern business methods to spread Wild
er knowledge of the free privileges.
"It is too late" he says, ito have pa
tience with the old idea of books as
cloistered privilege. If the library
is business, as I earnestly maintain,
it must follow business methods, not
only Of system, bookkeeping, purchase
and so on, but even in advertising and
securing trade. 1 have no sympathy
with the old plan of waiting for the
COW to come to ask you to be so kind
as to milk her.
other advancement has been made
through systematic manner of pur-
chasing, by which the Los Angeles
library gets its books considerably
cheaper than almost any other similar
institution in the United States, the
installation of duplicate fiction list
of great convenience to patrons of that
department and a most convenient ar
ranging and cataloging of reference
data relating to the west, particularly
California.
Statistics prepared by DR.. Lummis,
after corresponding with all the lead
ing librarians of the country, show
that Los Angeles is excelled only by
New York and Oakland in annual cir
culation per volume and in this respect
is five times ahead of Boston. Upon
cost of circulation the Los Angeles
library is within half cent of the
most economical rate in the country.
44e
TOT LOST ON BROADWAY is
RESTORED TO MOTHERS ARMS