Librarians are not unanimous as regards the treatment of the current
numbers of periodicals. Some maintain that they should be spread all over
the tables of the reading-room in any order, to ensure that all shall
receive plenty of attention at the _hands_ of readers, whether they are
wanted or not for perusal. Others hold the opinion that the periodicals
in covers should be spread over the tables, but in some recognised order,
alphabetical or otherwise. Yet another section will have it that this
spreading should be accompanied by fixing, and that each cover should
be fastened in its place on the table. Finally, many think that the
magazines, &c., should be kept off the tables entirely, and be arranged
in racks where they will be accessible without littering the room, and at
the same time serve as a sort of indicator to periodicals which are in or
out of use. For the unfixed alphabetical arrangement several appliances
have been introduced. At Manchester the periodicals are arranged on
raised desks along the middle of the tables. In the Mitchell Library,
Glasgow, each table is surmounted by a platform raised on brackets which
carries the magazine covers, without altogether obstructing the reader’s
view of the room and his neighbours. Each periodical is given a certain
place on the elevated carriers, and this is indicated to the reader by a
label fixed on the rail behind the cover. On the cover itself is stamped
the name of the periodical and its table number. Each table has a list of
the periodicals belonging to it shown in a glazed tablet at the outer end
of the platform support. Wolverhampton and St. Martin’s, London, furnish
very good examples of the fixed arrangement. In the former library each
periodical is fastened to its table by a rod, and has appropriated to it
a chair, so that removal and disarrangement cannot occur. In the latter
those located in the newsroom are fastened on stands where chairs cannot
be used, and the arrangement is more economical as regards space than at
Wolverhampton. The periodicals in the magazine room are fixed by cords
to the centre of the table and signboards indicate the location of each
periodical. This seems to be the best solution of the difficulty after
all. Every periodical in this library is fixed, more or less, and it is
therefore easy to find out if a periodical is in use.
The rack system has many advocates, and can be seen both in libraries
and clubs in quite a variety of styles. At the London Institution there
is an arrangement of rails and narrow beaded shelves on the wall, which
holds a large number of periodicals not in covers, and seems to work
very well. The rails are fastened horizontally about two inches from the
walls at a distance above the small shelf sufficient to hold and keep
upright the periodicals proposed to be placed on it, and a small label
bearing a title being fixed on the rail, the corresponding periodical
is simply dropped behind it on to the shelf, and so remains located. A
similar style of rail-rack has been introduced for time-tables, &c.,
in several libraries, and has been found very useful. Another style
of periodical-rack is that invented by Mr. Alfred Cotgreave, whereby
periodicals are displayed on two sides of a large board, and secured in
their places by means of clips. The same inventor has also an arrangement
similar to that described as in the London Institution for magazines in
covers. The ordinary clip-rack used largely by newsvendors has been often
introduced in libraries where floor space was not available, and is very
convenient for keeping in order the shoals of presented periodicals,
which live and die like mushrooms, and scarcely ever justify the
expense of a cover. An improvement on the usual perpendicular wall-rack
just mentioned is that used in the National Liberal Club, London,
which revolves on a stand, and can be made to hold two or three dozen
periodicals or newspapers, according to dimensions.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.—PERIODICAL RACK.]
The racks just mentioned are all designed to hold periodicals without
covers, but there are several kinds in existence for holding them in
their covers. Among such are the table supports, in metal and wood, on
the same principle as shelf book-holders, in which the magazines lie in
their cases on their fore-edges, and are distinguished by having the
titles lettered along the back or otherwise. Probably the best of all the
racks devised for periodicals in their cases is that on the system of
overlapping sloping shelves, shown in the illustration. The idea of this
rack is simply that the covers should lie on the shelves with only the
title exposed. They are retained in place by a beading just deep enough
to afford a catch for one cover, and so avoid the chance of their being
hidden by another periodical laid above. These racks can also be made
single to stand against the wall if floor space is not available. Oak,
walnut, and mahogany are the best woods to use, but pitch or ordinary
yellow pine may also be used.