Plan No. 1 (850 square feet) has three windows at one end of the room and the librarian's desk, reading table, vertical files and card catalog cabinet are placed advantageously near these windows for good daylight. There is room also for additional desks near the windows.
Book stacks are placed at right angles to the windows at the rear of the room but require artificial light. The remaining wall space is used for wall stacks.
The best method for a business firm to pursue in acquiring the most suitable and best arranged shelving for a library is to have their librarian ask one or two reputable firms making a specialty of library fittings to furnish drawings, descriptions and prices of their stack, and also make suggestions as to its best arrangement in a given floor space. The trained librarian who has been educated in the details of good and poor equipment and who knows what an adequate layout should be, will readily point out the merits and weaknesses of the specifications in regard to standardization, simplicity and price. It is always economical to equip even the smallest business library with a high grade standard make of shelving, which will never have to be discarded as the library grows, and which can always be matched when additional shelving needs to be purchased.
It must be remembered also that the business library is often not permanently located in a particular space because the layouts of all offices of business organizations are subject to change, due to growth in the business, and therefore library shelving which is well made, and of standard parts and which can be moved readily as occasion demands is most desirable.
Vertical Files
The floor space for the business library should not only provide for adequate shelving, but should allow for vertical files and their growth. The value of adequate vertical filing equipment can not be over-estimated, because so much of the working material in the business library must be kept in vertical files. It is essential that drawers move easily and quietly and do not get out of order, as this affords a great saving in labor as well as quick service for the busy man who wants the contents at his immediate disposal.
Plan No. 2 (700 square feet) has two windows at the end of the room but requires a different layout from Plan No. 1 because of the dimensions of the room.
The narrow width of the room makes it impossible to place all of the vertical files near the daylight. The layout is an exception to the general principle that book stacks should be placed at right angles to windows, because the room is too long and narrow to permit of any daylight penetrating the aisles between the stacks if so placed, and a more economical arrangement is effected by placing the book stacks at right angles to a wall.
