Manual of Library Economy / Third and Memorial Edition

by James Duff Brown; W. C. Berwick Sayers

116. Instructions and Plan.—The instructions to the competitors should be accompanied by a plan of the site drawn to quarter- or eighth-inch scale, and showing building line and ancient lights, if any. They should specify the amount and kind of accommodation required on each floor, and state that the cost should not exceed a certain sum exclusive of movable furniture. Permanent fittings should include bookcases, wall and standard; screens, counters, wall slopes for newspapers, barriers, and any other kind of fixture. The conditions as regards premiums, assessing, etc., should be sent with the instructions and site plan. All competitive designs should be drawn to the same scale (one-fourth or one-eighth inch), and should be finished in black without colour or ornament. Perspective drawings, in addition to elevations, may be sent at the discretion of each competitor. Each set of drawings should include a plan of every floor, showing proposed arrangement of bookcases, counters, furniture, etc.; an elevation of every face; and a section through the building both ways. Plenty of time should be allowed for the sending in of designs; three months at least from date of advertisement. Usually the assessor draws up the instructions, and afterwards circulates answers to any questions which may be put by the competitors.

117. Selection of Plan.

117. Selection of Plan.—The competing drawings should be sent in unmarked in any way, but should be numbered in order of receipt, so that the assessor and committee cannot recognize the author. The competitor’s name and address should be sent separately in a sealed envelope marked on the outside with the same number, and some such words as “architect’s name and address,” to prevent accidental opening. It is the duty of the assessor to advise the committee as to the practicability of every design; to determine if it is in accordance with the instructions; to ascertain if it can be carried out for the amount stated; and to judge which designs are first, second and third in order of merit after fulfilling the conditions of the instructions.

118.

118. The following rules for judging library plans will be found useful; they are based on a wide experience of planning in all its departments, and can be used by architectural assessors and librarians as a guide:—

1. No public room should be made a thoroughfare leading to any other public room.

2. All exits from public rooms should be within view of the staff.

3. Oversight of public rooms should, if possible, be secured without the need for special officers in every room. For this purpose ornamental glazed partitions are preferable to solid walls.

4. No passage for public traffic should be less than 4 feet wide. Where movable chairs are used the passages should be from 6 to 8 feet wide.

5. Cross gangways between table and bookcase-ends should not be less than 3 feet if used as thoroughfares, but may be 2 feet only if simply spaces to enable readers or assistants to pass round.