Light, Warmth, Fresh Air
After the library is finished, the staff will have to work and the public to read in it.
The eyesight of everyone that enters the building is dependent on the steady soft incidence, reflection, diffusion, concentration, abundance, of natural and artificial light supplied; their comfort summer and winter depends on the amount of heat tempered or admitted; the clearness of their brains, their ability to read and comprehend depends on methods of ventilation; the permanent health of all obliged to stay any length of time in the library may be seriously affected by the care or neglect of those who plan these vital elements of construction. Better have the building plain, even ugly, with these essentials perfect, than impressive and elegant without them.
From the very first, in planning small or medium, the large, or the largest libraries—in corridors, rooms, hails, or stacks,—ponder these needs as you go on, seek defects or merits in these directions as you visit other buildings; set aside sufficient time for special and deliberate study and review of these problems, librarian, adviser and architect in solemn conclave, and resolve to have your building, in these particulars at least, the best one not only in your own state, but in America and in the world.
As is elsewhere urged again and again, spend what money you have to spare, in such essentials, rather than in the luxuries of unnecessarily expensive material, decoration, or furniture.
See special chapters, later on, on [Lighting], [Heating, and Ventilation].