Some points in the interior arrangement and construction of a building for a special library / by Charles Perry Fisher.

  • Fisher, Charles Perry, 1857-1940.
Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Some points in the interior arrangement and construction of a building for a special library / by Charles Perry Fisher. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    [Reprinted from M //. Journal, March, 1906.] SOME POINTS IN ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTTON 't#A BUILDING FOR A SPECIAL LIBRARY. By Charles Perry Fisher, Librarian of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. T is possible, and quite natural, that on reading the program of this meeting the first impression to many will be that the questions I bring before you for dis- cussion to-day, have already been well sifted and debated before the American Library Association. I wish to state that I have been unable to find direct answers to the points I now submit for your consideration. We have as members of this Association, representatives of three Societies which have in recent years erected buildings for the purposes of a society and a medical library. In the order of their construction these are: ist, the New York Academy of Medicine; 2nd, the Medical Society of the County of Kings; 3d, the Boston Medical Library. How much the last benefited by the experience of the others we hope to learn in the course of the present discussion. While we cannot expect to develop plans for an entire building, the opinions and suggestions recorded in our proceedings of this meeting, should be of material assistance in giving instructions to an architect engaged to prepare plans for a structure of this class. The first question, “Is it desirable to have the reading-rooms on the first floor?”, I should answer in the negative. In a build- ing, say looxioo feet, with the stacks built apart, as will be mentioned later, it is perfectly feasible to have the entire library equipment on the first floor, with plenty of space for the janitor’s office, and apartments for a Directory for Nurses if desired; but I do not think it desirable from an architectural point of view, and less so from a practical standpoint, as there would be always more or less noise and confusion, necessarily accompanying the business of a large building, which would be an annoyance and discomfort to the readers and attendants in the library. A building of the size mentioned above, looxioo feet, consisting of a basement and three upper stories, should have space reserved in the basement for a receiving-room with a graded outlet, if