See articles in the Library Journal, 19, 368; 21, 324; 22 (Conf.).
See dimensions, Carr, 18 L. J. 225, Duff-Brown 105.
From the foregoing remarks on points of contact between library and public it will be seen that many of these are localized at a single point—the loan desk. “This point may be regarded as the heart of a public circulating library.”—Bostwick.[396]
“It may happen that the position and size of this desk may determine in conspicuous particulars the character of the whole building.”—Idem.[397]
Catalog Cases
As the card system has been so universally adopted in America, and worked out to such standards of size that the most convenient makes, dimensions and sizes of cases for every grade of library are kept in the market in all large cities, there is no need of describing them here. But I would make some suggestions as to how they may influence planning.
Cases for small libraries may not need a special base, but can be used on any table, flat desk or ledge. As the library grows, it needs more cases, and a special base, such as all makers furnish, may be wanted. As cards, like books, are more easily used when they can be seen by the reader without craning or stooping, their increase is better met by broadening than by piling up, until wall space fails. In the first form of base used, it is better to utilize the space under the table, not so much in the cupboards or open spaces suggested in some catalogs, as in the upright or flat shelving of the quartos or folios (such as atlases) not handled so often as to interfere seriously with use of the cards, the primary purpose of the cases. This space beneath should certainly be put to some use wherever space is precious.
One form of catalog case frequently used is double-faced, set in the partition between the delivery room and the cataloguer’s room, the drawers pulling both ways, so that they can be used alternately in either room.