Mechanical Carriers
Some jubilation has been expressed by librarians and architects over the conquest of space through the aid of invention, but space and time have not yet been entirely annihilated. Two hundred feet by carrier may be shorter than a hundred by foot, but it is still twice as far as a hundred feet by carrier, and in planning to use mechanical aids, it is still necessary to remember that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points.
For small packages and small libraries, tubes (pneumatic propulsion or exhaust) are the simplest contrivance for horizontal carriage, and they will serve many purposes in larger libraries.
In large buildings it is usually wise to provide some sort of machinery from remote parts of the stack to the delivery desk, and also direct to the reading-room floors; although the leading specialist on this subject, Bernard R. Green[221] of the Library of Congress, warns that they should only be adopted as a matter of necessity, for they require expenditure, space and complicated machinery. There are forms to be studied in most of the very large libraries, government, university and public. As every new library building will probably devise some decided improvement in tubes and carriers, I will not take space here to describe the different devices now in use, but will advise very careful study of every problem as it arises. Burgoyne[222] describes the Boston Public Library System.[223] The Library of Congress underground system which has been in continuous service satisfactorily since 1897, has also been very well described in The Library.[224]
It seems to me that the services I have seen are heavier, clumsier and slower than is necessary, and that something of the ingenuity that has been put into commercial cash-carrier systems might devise for libraries book-baskets, run on wires, which would serve all purposes for single volumes or small lots of books. Those now operating also suggest frequent stoppages for repairs. “Carriers that turn corners are apt to get out of order,” says Bostwick.[225]
But at all events, no conveniences of machinery should serve as an architectural excuse for separating or increasing distance between departments.
Tunnels. For passage from cellar of one building to another in groups; or from one wing to another in the same building, underground passages may be required. They are usually floored, ceiled and walled, with stone or cement, but it has occurred to me that in some cases, large cast-iron water pipes, well laid, would make a cheaper, tighter, stronger and otherwise more satisfactory communication. For staff usage the height of a small man is sufficient; for bulky boxes the size of a car running on rails, and drawn by hand or by endless chain, would define the width, and a slight additional height would allow for overhead hanging book-baskets.