Prelude

Every public building should express, with dignity

Its individual type, use, place, and era.

A library is a prominent public building

As practical and technical as a schoolhouse;

A workshop for the future, not a relic of the past.

Seldom rich enough for its needs, it abhors waste.

Change and growth will soon supplant it.

Build it for use, not show; for now, not for ever:—

Tastefully, tactfully, thriftily, thoroughly.

To plan it, find an able librarian,

To construct it, get a skillful architect,

To control both, choose a wise committee.

These three, by patient study and debate,

Can satisfy taste without sacrificing use—

Achieving complete and felicitous success.

HOW TO PLAN
A LIBRARY BUILDING
FOR LIBRARY WORK

By CHARLES C. SOULE
A.B. Harv. 1862

Firmitas, Utilitas, Venustas

—Vitruvius de Architectura

BOSTON
THE BOSTON BOOK COMPANY
1912

The Riverdale Press, Brookline, Boston, Mass.

To
The Architect
who is the Librarian’s best friend
when they plan together
a sound, useful and beautiful building
this volume is inscribed