“Newspaper and magazine rooms should not be too large; two 30 × 50 are much less noisy than one 50 × 60, less draughty and easier to ventilate.”—Burgoyne.[326]
The opinion expressed by Dr. Poole in the United States Public Library Report of 1876,[327] “It is thought in some libraries that the expense of newspapers could be better applied to some other purposes,” seems to be echoed in recent discussions in England. See The Library Assistant, Vol. 4.[328] A moderate view advanced at one meeting was this: “It is exceedingly doubtful whether a newsroom is justified in towns with a population under 45,000.” The matter is well summed up in the Library Association Record.[329] Reading the debates, and weighing the arguments pro and con, does not lead one to recommend planners of American libraries to provide more space for newspapers than it is customary to allow with us: a rack or two in small and medium libraries, for local papers and one or two metropolitan journals, but no separate newspaper rooms except in the public libraries of large cities. Even there, I imagine their use is more for reference and information than it seems to be in England. Champneys[330] calls the newspaper reader “a professional loafer.”
However, “In libraries where the newspaper room is somewhat inaccessible, there is little annoyance from the tramp element. Branch library reading rooms in New York City, put on the third story for lack of sufficient space below, are almost entirely free from tramps. People willing to climb to that story really want to read.”—Bostwick.[331]
This fact is worth noting in planning large libraries.
Children’s Room
This department, now considered a cardinal necessity in all libraries great or small, is a development of the last generation. No special rooms were devoted to this purpose before 1890. “Today it is tending to be a practically separate library, with its own books, circulation, catalogues, statistics and staff.”—(Bostwick.[332]) So great a success has it become, that a library without special provision for children would now be a curiosity.
In the smallest libraries, with only one room, separate tables and shelves are set aside for children. As libraries grow in grade, separate rooms are provided with special attendants as well. Here the shelving, tables and chairs are lower, often of two or three suitable sizes.
The idea at the outset was to segregate children so that their motion and chatter should not annoy adults who were using the library; now the notion is entirely educational, to catch and interest young children, so that they will continue to use the library as they grow up. There are even separate rooms for smaller tots, on the kindergarten idea of attracting them with pictures before they begin to read. This purpose is furthered by having suitable pictures on the walls. Rooms are also fitted up for small audiences to whom stories are read or told.
Although children are only expected for a few hours every day, they are apt to swarm at those hours. The room or rooms so used ought to be at the same time homelike, cozy, attractive, and also well ventilated. The ground floor is the best place, though the basement has often to be used, in default of room above, and children have been sent up one flight of stairs, because they are better able to climb than adults. The stairs and hand rails should in this case conform to children’s stature. If they can be shut off from the reading room by sound-proof partitions, quiet is preserved for the readers. Children are apt to be restless and murmurous if not noisy. “Children do not mind noise and crowding; adults do.” In large buildings separate entrances are provided for children.