May I add to Mr. Todd's advice to library boards about to build, "first appoint your librarian," the suggestion that second, in consultation with him, appoint your architect. It is not disbelief in competition which has led the American Institute of Architects to advise against competitions, for the former is a constant condition, while the latter they believe to result in more evil than good. It is a popular notion among laymen that a competition will bring out ideas and mayhap develop some hidden genius, but in answer to the first I can say, I know of but one building erected from successful competitive plans without modification, and for the second, the major portion of American originality in building designs is unworthy the name of architecture. Aside from the needless expense and loss of time entailed on library board, as well as architect, by the holding of competitions a greater evil lies in the well proven fact, that in their desire to win approval for their design, most architects endeavor to find out the librarian's predilections and follow them in their plans rather than to submit a scholarly solution of the problem studied from an unprejudiced standpoint. It is not often the good fortune of competitors to have their submitted work judged with such unbiased intelligence as that which permitted the best conceived plan to win in the competition for the new library in New York City. Few men would have dared in competition to remove that imposing architectural feature, the reading room, from their main façade and put it frankly where it belongs, in direct touch with the stacks which serve it, as Carrere & Hastings did.
Not long ago a member of a certain library board of trustees wrote to us that we were being considered, among others, as architects for their new building, and he suggested that we send to them as many water colors as we could collect and as large as possible, to impress the board; for, as he added, "some of us appreciate your plans, but most laymen are caught by the colored pictures, the larger the better."
As a rule librarians have very decided ideas as to the plan desired in so far as it relates to the correlation of rooms and departments, and it, therefore, seems manifestly proper that having selected a librarian on account of merit, the next step should be the selection of an architect on the same basis, to the end that in consultation the theory of the one may either be studied into shape or proved inferior to the theory of the other. Under the discussion of two broad minds, the wheat is easily separated from the chaff with the much to be desired result of the assemblying of a well ordered plan to present to the board, which has had such study that few criticisms cannot be answered from the store of experience gathered in the making. This ideal crystallization of ideas, this development of the problem working hand in hand precludes the need of such advice as is found in the following quotation from a paper on library buildings:
"Taking into account the practical uses of the modern library it is readily seen that it needs a building planned from inside, not from without, dictated by convenience and not by taste no matter how good. The order should be to require the architect to put a presentable exterior on an interior having only use in view and not as is so often done to require the librarian to make the best he can of an interior imposed by the exigencies of the architect's taste or the demand of the building committee for a monumental structure."
Such an anomalous relationship between interior and exterior is absolutely opposed to the fundamental training of the architect of to-day. Often have I heard my professor of design, a Frenchman of rare judgment, fly out at a student caught working on his exterior before the interior was complete: "Work on your plan, finish your plan, and when that is perfect, the rest will come."
Architects of experience, who have been students of library development in its every branch, who have followed the changes in the relations of the library to the people, have reached the same conclusions along broad lines, as have the librarians, with respect to lighting, access, oversight and administration, as well as the general correlation of universally important departments, and it is therefore my purpose to state our relationship rather than attempt the raising of issues on details of library arrangement, and to show if possible, that the skilled architect's method of procedure tends to settle mooted points by weighing values and considering relations of parts in a logical and broad minded study of the particular set of conditions pertaining to his problem.
Either owing to the size, shape or contour of the site, its particular exposure, local climatic conditions, the particular character of the library itself or the people whom it serves, the problem presented to an architect by a library board is always essentially a new one. Certain fundamental rules may obtain through their universal applicability, but every step in the working out of a successful plan must be influenced by the particular conditions referred to, and here the co-operation of the librarian is of inestimable value to the architect, no matter how wide his experience may be.
Desired correlation, like most results, can be achieved in divers ways, and in most cases nothing of utility need be sacrificed to secure a dignified plan, which is as much to be desired as a dignified exterior. Realizing the importance of accomplishing successful results, a scholarly architect will strive to mould his plan with an eye to symmetry, without losing sight for an instant of the conditions of use, and never sacrificing practical relationship to gain an absolutely symmetrical arrangement of plan.
The French architect will, if necessary, waste space or inject needless rooms into his plan to secure perfect balance, while his American student will gain all the value of the effect without diminishing the practical value of his building one iota.
Along with symmetry, the logical development of the plan in study keeps in mind something of the rough form of the exterior design, with particular reference to the grouping of its masses to secure the maximum of air and the best light for the various departments. With the best designers, it is an unwritten law, that the next step after completing a satisfactory plan, is to sketch a section through the building, not only to ensure a proper proportion in the enclosed rooms, but most important of all to secure a system of fenestration, allowing wall space where needed and introducing the light as near the top of the rooms as the finish will permit. Having settled then all the details of plans and section, wherein are comprised all of the matter of greatest moment to the practical librarian, it only remains for the architect to prepare a suitable exterior and I certainly agree with my old preceptor that "it will come." The American people believe that education is the corner stone of manhood and good citizenship, and next to our public schools, if not before them, the most potent educational factor is our public library. The librarians are responsible in a great measure for the good work which is being accomplished in the dissemination of knowledge and culture among the people, but let me ask, are we not as responsible for our share, as co-workers with them, to perpetuate in lasting masonry the best which in us lies for the same great cause of the education of the people?