“I think the indirect method of lighting in the rooms where the ceilings are not high, is very successful. It is only in the main reading-room, where it made so many hanging fixtures, that I did not like the effect; it is also expensive, as they have to use so many more lights. It does not seem to me very cheerful there, and I think the effect would be better if we had two chandeliers in the room at appropriate places where they would give a general illumination, and would be high enough to keep the light out of one’s eyes.”
I hear that this system is also used in the new St. Louis Public Library building, but have no report as to its merits.
From these experiences, west and east, and from my own observations of other systems in very many libraries, I am prepared to recommend trial of indirect lighting; especially as encouragement of makers will undoubtedly induce them to remedy any faults and develop all merits. For diffused light it is enough, always and everywhere. For shelves, from top to bottom, it is enough. For staff desks and for readers with strong eyes, it is enough. Weak eyes, accustomed to concentrated light, may need more; hence I take it the extra Crerar lamps. New patents are already appearing. Mr. Andrews further says in his letter: “A combination of this method with the direct system, called ‘semi-indirect,’ is used in the City Club at Chicago.”
It is even possible that the expense of installation and operation may be reduced.
Fixtures. Have these plain and substantial. If you do not try some indirect system, but hold to direct lighting, do not surrender yourself to the first or the most insistent agent. Urge your architect to a deliberate study of lamps, their power, position, bulbs, and shading, and indeed all their appurtenances and fixtures.
Do not, in the first place, let the architect arrange the lamps for picturesque effect. If he can make the lights ideal for service and for readers, well and good; but get the utilitarian effect first; the artistic afterwards, if you can.
Again, do not accept too meekly the salesman’s or contractor’s or architect’s selection of shades and fixtures. Watch, inspect, read everywhere, and when you make up your mind clearly what is best for you, insist on getting it. But avoid especially “art fixtures.”
I have been especially warned not to use the ornamental chain pendant for chandeliers, like that shown after p. 14 of the above mentioned Report of Oculists. The slightest draft will twist them, and break the wires inside.
And for desk or table electric reading lamps, use the movable and self-adjusting kind, so that every reader can turn on his own light, and arrange its angle as he chooses.
In General. Very large libraries can perhaps economize by installing their own electric plants, but get them outside the building if possible, as the jar of the engines and their whir are disturbing. In a group of municipal or university buildings, the library can get its current from a common source.