Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-27

speed Of a hundred feet minute. When
the stack attendant has placed the book
on the rack and pulled the lever the next
carrier basket, which comes along auto
matical1y, lifts the book out of the rack
and carries it down beneath the ground
and then up again into the reading room.
where it is automatically discharged into
a cushioned box at the central desk.
When the attendant in the reading room
wishes to return the book to the stack
| the carrier is SO arranged that 1t can be
sent to the proper deck simply by pulling
certain lever. The basket containing
will never deposit it's burden except at
the right place. This carrier seems al
! most to possess human intelligence. re-
fusing to carry books In any way that
might injure them in transit In practice
nearly all of the books are sent from
,. the stacks to the central reading room
by this carrier. but as rule they are
sent back by a messenger on large
book truck.
Each Of the bookstacks consists Of from
nine to ten stories, with a series of cast
iron frames supporting tiers and shelves
The largest stacks are sixty-dve feet high
The shelves are Of cold-rolled steel, and
are finished as smooth as glass The
stacks are lighted by large windows Of
plate glass which are attached directly to
the window frame In such a way as to
make them dust and damp tight. There
are no sashes In these windows. and they
are never OpcUcu AS UTlSIlt 6uuSLIlHc 10
harmful to books. it Is necessary to have
an arrangement which will at all times
admit light and yet keep out the direct
sunlight. OF course 1t would be difficult
task to open and shut 200 window shades
every time the sun seeks to enter, so 1t
has been arranged that they can all be
shut or opened simultaneously by a n.y.
uraulic apparatus operated by pressing a
button.
At the outset there were three stacks
possessing a total Of forty-four miles of
book shelves. with a capacity of approx
| mately 100000 volumes. Since that time
another stack has been built which adds
another million volumes to the capacity Of
the library. 1t is arranged SO that still
other stacks may be added, and the ultt-
mate capacity will be more than 4.0OO,OOO
volumes, counting nine volumes to the
foot. This would make q single row Of
books more than hundred miles long.
The new stack. which was built few
years ago, is equipped with some facilities
not possessed by the others. One of these
is a unique provision for economy in the
use Of electricity for lighting purposes. At
every other shelf there Is push button
by which the attendant may turn on the
light for one passageway. This continues
| to burn for about six minutes. and then
the lights are automatically cut out. II
| the attendant wishes to stay longer he
must press the button again. There is an
| underground book railway leading d.
rectly from the Library to a station at
tHe SdpltOl his railway runs through
brick tunnel a quarter of a mile long
There is an endless chain to which book
trays are attached and they make the
trip from the Library to the Capitol In
from two to three minutes. Members of
the House and Senate and of the Supreme
Court. and the officials of these bodies.
have the privilege of drawing books from
the Library. and Of having them sent to
their Offices, to the Capitol, or to their
homes.
1t is one of the cherished ideas of the
present librarian of Congress that the
institution which will unlock all OF the
treasures of the literary world to the
serious students of the United States.
Although the greatest library In the west
ern hemisphere. there are still many
works lacking from the collections of the
of every other library in America. Not
one of them has a complete collection.
But what one of them lacks another pos
| sesses, and by properly organized sys-
tenn of cooperation they may make
available for all OF them every book pos
sessed by any one of them. Such sys-
tenn of cooperation will give to the
United States a library service superior
to that OF any other country In the world.
The federal government has other libra
ries than the Library Of Congress. and
they make Uncle Sam the owner OF more
than 5000 600 volumes. Each OF the prin-
cipal departments and bureaus OF the
government maintains a special library
, dealing with the subjects with which 1t
is principally concerned. For instance, the
bureau of education has the worlds best
library on educational matters; the bu-
reau of fisheries has the finest library
in existence on aquatic LIE; the bureau
of standards possesses q magnificent IL
brary on scientific subjects. and the liz
brary Of the ONCE OF the surgeon gen.