Six consultants, men of professional rank and experience, are engaged (without any administrative duties) in advising the maturer users of the Library in their investigations. This unique service is to be found nowhere else in libraries.
Notable among gifts are those of John D. Rockefeller, jr.—one of $450,000 for the acquisition in facsimile copies of source material for American history existing in the archives of foreign countries, and another of $250,000 for the development of a great union catalogue of important books in other American libraries.
The scheme of classification, covering 5,000 printed pages, has been adopted in 80 large libraries in America and Europe.
Herbert Putnam, the Librarian, took office on April 5, 1899.
The Library staff, organized in 30 divisions, consists of 1,055 persons, of whom 585 are doing library work proper; 136 handle the copyright business, which since 1870 has been under direction of the Librarian; 204 constitute the building force, which guards the building day and night, keeps it in beautiful order, attends to heating, lighting, and ventilating the 15 acres of floor space, vacuum cleans—the year round—the 162 miles of books, and looks after the countless other mechanical matters. The remainder (111 persons) are printers and bookbinders engaged on Library work, but under the Public Printer’s direction; 19 are engaged on special projects.
FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY
When Henry C. Folger, of New York City, decided to build the library his first thought was to have this monument to the glory of Shakespeare designed in harmony with the architecture of Shakespeare’s time. However, the library being in Washington, very near the Capitol, the House of Representatives and Senate Office Buildings, and the Library of Congress (to which group was added the Supreme Court Building), made it appear somewhat dangerous to introduce Elizabethan architecture in such a classical frame.
After a conference with Dr. Paul Cret, architect, and Alexander B. Trowbridge, consultant, Mr. Folger agreed with this view, and a white marble structure of classic design was agreed upon. However, if the façades of a building are part of the scenery, once the door is passed, it is quite legitimate to harmonize the interiors with the collections therein displayed. It was with this end in view that the general plan was studied and adopted.
FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY