The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1913-08-28
LIBRARY SITE

has been received from Mr.. Carnegie
to the city offer to raise 81, 90 a
year for the support of the library.
The letter had to go to Scotland and
1t may be still a few weeks before a
reply can be had. In the meantime 1t
can do no harm to consider location
and may do considerable good, as a
matter involving the welfare of the
city for years and years should not be
carelessly determined.
The location should not be made
until serious thought has been given
to the following questions:
l. Where will the library be of
most use?
2. Where will the library add most
to the attractiveness Of the city?
3. What can the people of Brook
ings afford to pay for the site?
The utility of the library is to be
measured by its patronage. Its pa.
irons are school children, citizens gen.
orally, clerks and other business men,
and the stranger in the town. If the
library is in the heart of the business
district it is likely that parents of the
more careful sort will hesitate to let
their children visit it frequently; GER
tainly it will lack that attractiveness
of surrounding that would in itself
draw patrons to it il it were in a
quiet, shady quarter. If the building
is, like some of the churches, too far
from the business center the stranger
within u gates can't find it, and the
clerk, since he may never pass it, will
forget that 1t exists. The library must
be placed not only SO as to attract and
please those who have 1t in mind, bat
also so as to put In the mind of those
who might otherwise not use it. At
the meeting of the American Library
Association at Hotel Kaaterskill this
summer it vas pointed out by n
librarian of a busy, useful library that
even the distance from the street to
the entrance, and the height of the
entrance above the level ought to be
most carefully considered; the library
must be made easy of access. Put 1t
far away from the schools and pupils
and teachers will think twice and
probably decide against a particular
use, as the trouble of getting to the
library, the teacher or the pupil de-
clares, is greater than the gain of u.s.
ing the book. Put the library close to
the school and the schools will double
their use of it. The library then must
be where people find 1t easier to pass
than to avoid; it must be near the
schools, and it must be so surrounded
as to attract.
1t is by giving it the proper sur
roundings that the library most adds
to the attractiveness of the city. Theo-
~retically on this head the center of a
large park with choice gardens in it
would be the ideal place for beauty.
But such a location would be likely
seriously to impair the usefulness of
the library. Use and attractiveness
must ordinarily compromise. For
tunate Is the city which can afford a
site both useful and attractive.
What the city can afford will depend
upon the condition of the city finances,
upon initial cost of grounds, upon cost
Of upkeep, and upon value received
for the money expended. That would
be a most disastrous piece of extrava-
gance to put the library in some spot
where it would not be of the greatest
use just because the lot could there
be had cheap or for nothing. And the
loss would increase as the years go
on; that is We should be inlicting a
building expense to keep up on our
descendants and at the same time
have put 1t out of their power to get
any returns for the burden borne. IL
the money is forthcoming without
seriously burdening the people, no
amount of initial cost can weigh much
over against getting the site where the
library will be most useful. Put no
cost of lot in the balance and get a use
less site, and the no-cost is extrava-
gance. Put the most costly lot in the
balance against the greatest utility
and, as that cost of the lot Is distribut-
ed over years-it has to be paid but
once-the library outweighs 1t every
time. Brookings is fortunate in hav-
ing available several choice sites rear
the school house and near the power
house. Which Of these would the peo-
pie prefer? This question will be con-
sidered in q later issue OF the paper.