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Forms make or break the most crucial online interactions: checkout,

W E B F O R M D E S I G N by LUKE WROBLE W SK I
registration, and any task requiring information entry. In Web Form
Design, Luke Wroblewski draws on original research, his considerable
experience at Yahoo! and eBay, and the perspectives of many of the
field’s leading designers to show you everything you need to know about
designing effective and engaging web forms.

“Luke Wroblewski has done the entire world a great favor by writing this book. With deft explanations
and clear examples, he presents a clear case for better Web forms and how to achieve them. This
book will help you every day.”
ALAN COOPER
Chairman
Cooper

“If I could only send a copy of Web Form Design to the designer of every web form that’s frustrated
me, I’d go bankrupt from the shipping charges alone. Please. Stop the pain. Read this book now.”
ERIC MEYER
Author of CSS: The Definitive Guide
meyerweb.com

“Luke’s book is by far the most practical, comprehensive, data-driven guide for solving form design
challenges. It is an essential reference that will become a must-read for many years.”
Irene Au
Director, User Experience
Google

WEB FORM DESIGN

www.rosenfeldmedia.com
Filling in the Blanks
MORE ON WEB FORM DESIGN
www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/webforms/ by LUKE WROBLE W SK I foreword by Jared Spool
Thank you for purchasing the digital edition of
Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks!
You might note that the book’s images are
not always as crisp as would be ideal. There
are literally hundreds of images in this book,
and incorporating them at a higher resolution
would result in a file size that would be far too
large to download. That’s why we’ve made
each image available via Flickr. Just click on
the image or its Flickr URL, and you’ll launch
a crisper, more readable version of that image.
Although not an ideal work-around, we do
hope it makes for a better, more usable reading
experience. Please contact me with your
questions and suggestions; thank you!

Louis Rosenfeld, Publisher

Rosenfeld Media
[email protected]

Download at Boykma.Com
Web Form Design
Filling in the Blanks
by: Luke Wroblewski

Rosenfeld Media
Brooklyn, New York

Enter code WFDDE for 10% off any Rosenfeld Media product directly
purchased from our site: http://rosenfeldmedia.com

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table of contents

How to Use This Book x

Who Should Read This Book? xi
What’s in the Book? xii
What Comes with the Book? xv
Frequently Asked Questions xviii
Foreword xxiii

Form Structure
Chapter 1
The Design of Forms 1
Form Design Matters 5
The Impact of Form Design 16
Design Considerations 27

Chapter 2
Form Organization 31
What to Include 32
Have a Conversation 37
Organizing Content 40
Group Distinctions 48
Best Practices 56

ii
Table of Contents

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table of contents

Chapter 3
Path to Completion 59
Name That Form 60
Start Pages 62
Clear Scan Lines 64
Minimal Distractions 68
Progress Indicators 70
Tabbing 81
Best Practices 85

Form Elements
Chapter 4
Labels 86
Label Alignment 87
Top-Aligned Labels 89
Right-Aligned Labels 94
Left-Aligned Labels 96
Labels Within Inputs 99
Mixed Alignments 102
Best Practices 104

Chapter 5
Input Fields 106
Types of Input Fields 107
Field Lengths 116
Required Fields 119

iii
Table of Contents

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table of contents
Input Groups 131
Flexible Inputs 132
Best Practices 136

Chapter 6
Actions 138
Primary and Secondary Actions 139
Placement 147
Actions in Progress 150
Agree and Submit 155
Best Practices 158

Chapter 7
Help Text 160
When to Help 161
Automatic Inline Help 166
User-Activated Inline Help 173
User-Activated Section Help 178
Secure Transactions 182
Best Practices 184

Chapter 8
Errors and Success 186
Errors 187
Success 205
No Dead Ends 211
Best Practices 212

iv
Table of Contents

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table of contents

Form Interaction
Chapter 9
Inline Validation 214
Confirmation 215
Suggestions 225
Limits 228
Best Practices 230

Chapter 10
Unnecessary Inputs 231
Removing Questions 232
Smart Defaults 239
Personalized Defaults 246
Best Practices 248

Chapter 11
Additional Inputs 249
Inline Additions 250
Overlays 254
Progressive Engagement 265
Best Practices 269


Table of Contents

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table of contents

Chapter 12
Selection-Dependent Inputs 271
Page-Level Selection 276
Horizontal Tabs 279
Vertical Tabs 282
Drop-Down List 285
Expose Below Radio Buttons 287
Expose Within Radio Buttons 290
Exposed Inactive 292
Exposed Groups 295
Best Practices 299

Chapter 13
Gradual Engagement 302
Signing Up 303
Getting Engaged 306
Best Practices 316

Chapter 14
What’s Next? 317
The Disappearing Form 318
The Changing Form 321
Getting It Built 329

vi
Table of Contents

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table of contents

Index 331
Acknowledgments 342
About the Author 344

vii
Table of Contents

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Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks
By Luke Wroblewski

Rosenfeld Media, LLC

705 Carroll Street, #2L
Brooklyn, New York
11215 USA

On the web: www.rosenfeldmedia.com

Please send errors to: [email protected]

Publisher: Louis Rosenfeld

Editor/Production Editor: Marta Justak
Interior Layout: Susan Honeywell
Cover Design: The Heads of State
Indexer: Nancy Guenther
Proofreader: Chuck Hutchinson

© 2008 Rosenfeld Media, LLC

All Rights Reserved
ISBN: 1-933820-25-X
ISBN-13: 978-1-933820-25-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2008923241

Printed and bound in the United States of America

Download at Boykma.Com
For everyone who has had to fill in a form.

Download at Boykma.Com
How to Use this Book
Web form design. Do we really need an entire
book on such a mundane topic?
You bet we do. As arbiters of checkout,
registration, and data entry, Web forms
are often the lynchpins of successful Web
applications.
• Checkout forms are how ecommerce
vendors close deals—they stand between
people and the products or services they
want and between companies and their
profits. For example, eBay’s vast inventory
(it’s the 30th largest economy in the world)
is driven in no small part by its Sell Your
Item form.
• Registration forms are the gatekeepers
to community membership—they allow
people to define their identity within social
applications. All of MySpace’s 150+ million
users joined through a Web form.


How to Use this Book

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How to Use this Book
• Data input forms allow users to contribute
or share information, and they allow
companies to grow their content. Most of
YouTube’s huge video collection comes
from its Upload Your Video form.
Web forms are often the last and most
important mile in a long journey. Despite
their importance, the design of forms is often
poorly thought out and conceived. Your
organization may have already invested heavily
in opening a relationship with its customers
through high-quality marketing, site design,
and search engine optimization. But now it is
time to “close the deal” by making sure those
customers can complete your forms. And that’s
where this book will help.

Who Should Read this Book?

Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks is truly
for anyone who needs to design or develop

xi
How to Use this Book

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How to Use this Book
Web forms—and who doesn’t? Whatever type
of designer you are—usability engineer, Web
developer, product manager, visual designer,
interaction designer, or information architect—
you’re probably involved in Web form design
in some fashion. This book will provide you
with something that you can use immediately
to improve your site’s forms.
If you’re a beginner, you’ll receive a broad
overview of all the considerations that
constitute good form design. If you’re an
experienced practitioner, you’ll engage at a
deeper level with issues and solutions you may
not have encountered before.

What’s in the Book?

This book is a collection of the insights
and best practices for Web form design I’ve
accumulated through 12 years of designing
Web experiences. Wherever possible, I’ve

xii
How to Use this Book

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How to Use this Book
conducted or referenced research to better
understand the impact of Web form design
decisions. Where no research was available,
I’ve called on my own experiences and those of
other designers and developers.
Just about every chapter in this book wraps up
with a set of best practices that outline ways
you can begin to apply the key points made
within each chapter. Although these best
practices can guide you toward the right design
solutions for your forms, the content within
each chapter explains the what, when, and
why that informs each best practice.
Section One, “Form Structure,” begins
with an overview of why form design matters
and the principles behind good form design.
The remaining chapters provide a set of best
practices for organizing forms and focusing
people on their primary goal of completing a
form.

xiii
How to Use this Book

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How to Use this Book
Chapter 1: Design of Forms
Chapter 2: Form Organization
Chapter 3: Path to Completion

Section Two, “Form Elements,” dives into a

series of best practices for the core components
that make up forms: labels, input fields,
actions, and messaging (help, errors, success).
Here you will find information on aligning
labels, required input fields, primary versus
secondary actions, automatic help systems, and
much more.
Chapter 4: Labels
Chapter 5: Input Fields
Chapter 6: Actions
Chapter 7: Help Text
Chapter 8: Errors and Success

Section Three, “Form Interaction,” focuses

on the process of filling in forms. From inline
validation solutions that confirm or suggest
valid answers to gradual engagement solutions

xiv
How to Use this Book

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How to Use this Book
that immerse people within a Web experience
without forms, this section is about applying
dynamic behavior to make forms more useful,
usable, and enjoyable.
Chapter 9: Inline Validation
Chapter 10: Unnecessary Inputs
Chapter 11: Additional Inputs
Chapter 12: Selection-Dependent Inputs
Chapter 13: Gradual Engagement
Chapter 14: What’s Next?

What Comes with the Book?

This book’s companion Web site ( http://
www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/
webforms) contains pointers to useful
Web form design articles that I’ve found and
I’ve also written. It includes a calendar of my
upcoming talks, and a place for you to engage
in discussion with others interested in Web
form design. We expect to post information
on new Web form design-related resources

xv
How to Use this Book

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How to Use this Book
and special discounts for related applications.
You can keep up with the site by subscribing
to its RSS feed ( http://feeds.
rosenfeldmedia.com/webforms/)
We’ve also made the book’s diagrams,
screenshots, and other illustrations available
under a Creative Commons license for you to
download and use in your own presentations.
You’ll find them in Flickr (http://www.
flickr.com/photos/rosenfeldmedia).
We recommend that you display the digital
version of the book using a recent version of
Adobe’s Reader or Acrobat Professional, which
support live links. That way you can jump to
other parts of the book (i.e., from the table of
contents to a specific section) and to external
web pages (such as the large, high-resolution
version of each of the book’s illustrations,
which we’ve made available via Flickr) by
simply clicking. You’ll also find navigation

xvi
How to Use this Book

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How to Use this Book
easier if you display the Navigation Pane (in
Apple’s Preview reader, the Drawer).
We’ve optimized the digital version of this
book for being read and used on a computer.
As digital books are still quite a new
phenomenon, we’d love your suggestions for
how to improve our digital design; please
contact us at [email protected].

xvii
How to Use this Book

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Frequently
asked Questions
Why does Web form design matter?
Forms enable commerce, communities, and
productivity on the Web to thrive. If you are
in online retail, your goal is to sell things.
But standing in the way of your products and
your customers is a checkout form. If you are
developing social software, your goal is to grow
your community. Standing in between you and
community members is a form. If you’ve built
a productivity-based Web application, forms
enable key interactions that let people create
and manage content. See page 5 for more
information.
How should I organize my Web form—within
one Web page or across several?
Who is filling the form in and why? Answering
this up front allows us to think about our
forms as a deliberate conversation instead of
the inputs for a database. When you approach
forms as a conversation, natural breaks will
emerge between topics. When these distinct

xviii
Frequently Asked Questions

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Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
besides cost of land or construction; such as service, care, carriage,
etc.
The larger the building, and the more stories, the more
opportunity there is, by exercising economy of space and cleverness
of arrangement, to find room there for these distributing functions,
which are easiest controlled under central supervision and close to
the books.
One thing I would never do—consent to such removal until every
superfluous architectural area, in vestibules, corridors, staircases,
etc., had been eliminated, and the building reduced to its lowest
possible denomination for necessary central work.

Room for Service of Branches

In large libraries, room must be provided for laying out, shipping

and receiving books for branches, deliveries, traveling libraries and
all other kinds of outside activities. How much space these may
require may be inferred from the fact that the Travelling Library
office of the New York Public Library has a stock of fifty thousand
volumes and seventeen employees.
It should either have direct shipping doors, or should open into
the packing room, with good access to the shipping facilities there.
Besides tables, desks and shelving for the general use of
superintendent and clerks, with corner for telephones to the
branches, etc., and to other departments of the main library, there
will have to be bins for such dispatch service. As the books come
here from the stack, nearness to it, or some form of mechanical
connection with it, will save much time. Here, as in so many other
departments of every new large library, is opportunity for individual
planning.

See Winsor, P. L., 1876, 470.

” Bostwick, L. J., 1898, p. 14.
 ” L. J., 1898, Conf. 98, 101.
” Cole, U. S. Ed’l Rept., 1892-3, Vol. 1, p. 709.
” Wilson, R. E. P. L., 1901, p. 275.
” Duff-Brown, pp. 350-356.
” Sutton, C. W., 6 L. A. R., 67.

Comfort Rooms

Rest and Lunch. In England always, and oftener here than

formerly, even in small libraries, a room or rooms are provided for
the relaxation of the staff. “Especially for women, humanity and a
wise economy prompt comfortable rest rooms, as they are not as
uniformly in robust health, and are more subject to sudden
indisposition.”—(Bostwick.[250]) In view of the good these can do, in
refreshing attendants, and keeping them in the building, as well as
the fact that such rooms can be tucked into space not really needed
for anything else, and also because of the moderate expense of
fitting them up, it seems a great pity to cut them out of plans, as I
have known building committees to do from false ideas of economy.
A room for rest and lunching, a tiny “kitchenette” adjoining, with gas
stove, one room if you can for men, another for women; or in
smaller libraries a common room for a library mess, will do a deal
toward infusing an esprit de corps into the whole staff. A timely cup
of tea will soothe the nerves and stimulate the jaded to renewed
vigor. This is so much a matter of housekeeping that the advice of
the ladies of the corps can wisely be taken as to equipment,
including store closet. They can be trusted to get everything needed
into little space, at little cost.
See article in Public Libraries[251] on “Comfort in a Library,” where
it is said a room 6×6 can be made to serve.
Wraps. As far as clothes are concerned, the staff have got to be
given cleanly and satisfactory places to leave hats, coats, umbrellas
and overshoes during working hours. These should be in the
basement, or some place not so far through corridors as to have
much tracking of mud. If they can be afforded, ventilated wardrobe
cupboards, with a shelf above low enough to hold the prevalent style
of ladies’ hats, a box below for rubbers, and interval enough
between for a long wrap or fur coat, should be provided for each
person; private cupboards for all private rooms; staff cupboards in
the staff rest room, each one with lock.
For the public, a convenient umbrella stand (automatic locks will
improve it), and rubber pigeon-holes near the entrance will prevent
dripping around. There are various makeshifts—racks for hats under
chairs, coat rails behind chairs, or at the end of tables (see Tables, p.
344, and Chairs, p. 346) or hat racks in passages, and the like. In
the larger libraries, where coat rooms become necessary, they can
be slipped into narrow rooms under staircases or in passages near
the vestibule.
“Every reading room should have hooks or trees for coats and
hats, and stands for umbrellas.”—Eastman.
“In small libraries coat rooms should open from the delivery room,
overlooked from the desk.”—Marvin.[252]
Lavatory. Need of frequent wash bowls on all floors has been
spoken of elsewhere. A common lavatory for women and a separate
one for men, open both to public and staff, is a great convenience,
and may render fewer separate wash bowls necessary,—a
desideratum as far as cost goes, for plumbing is a great expense,
and part of planning is to concentrate and reduce to a minimum
“stacks” of plumbing. For this reason water fixtures on separate
floors should be superimposed rather than scattered.

Sanitary Facilities

These must be furnished separately for men and women of the

staff, but whether or not they need be provided for the public is a
question both here and in England. Miss Marvin[253] is positive that
public toilet rooms are a great nuisance, and should be omitted
always, at all events from the main floor. Burgoyne[254] reports
opinion divided, but thinks them advisable where a separate
attendant can be afforded. Is it not mainly a matter of size and
location? Large libraries must provide them for large throngs;
libraries of medium size must offer some refuge for serious readers
who have to spend many hours over their books; small local or
branch libraries, whose users live not so far away, may omit them.
The trouble and expense are against them, convenience and health
are in their favor. If the park board or public health authorities will
provide them somewhere near, the problem is solved. Where they
can be avoided in small libraries, and where children throng, much
trouble of personal oversight will be saved. If they must be installed,
here is certainly a problem to be solved in convenience, separation,
and casual supervision of entrances and exits.

Vehicles

Automobiles can be ranged at the curb in front of the library; they

lock or care for themselves. Hitching-posts in rural districts will
tether horses. Bicycles, not so much in evidence as they were once,
may be left in racks in front, or in some place provided for them in
lobby, or inside the rear entrance in the cellar.
In a large library, with courtyard, or even without, an inclined
approach to the basement is possible. In St. Louis it runs from one
street corner, down along a side of the building, then turns into an
open underground entrance to the basement. Such a passageway
takes from the street the library’s vehicles for branch service, etc.,
and if there is space inside, and the surrounding streets are narrow,
it might well give safety for visitor’s vehicles.
Duff-Brown[255] thinks bicycles are best housed outside.
Champneys[256] says, “don’t allow them in corridors.”
 In busy thoroughfares of large cities, or, indeed, in small cities in
this age of street Juggernauts, provision may well be made for safe
ingress and egress for decrepit readers near the curbstones. Some
forethought, taken by architect in conjunction with street-car
officials, would land many users in the new building without much of
the flurry and danger which often hovers over the approaches.

PART II
BOOK STORAGE

The several rooms will be treated separately, also different

methods of shelving. The phrase “book rooms” is not used herein as
in England, where book store or book room means only book
storage, as distinguished from staff rooms and reading rooms, but
will include all kinds of shelving, whether used for book storage only
or combined with handling and reading.
In an article on Book-storage by H. Woodbine in a recent number
of The Library Association Record,[257] he states the factors of past
development as,—

1. Economy of space.
2. Economy of cost.
3. Expansibility.
4. Adjustability.
5. Safety from fire.
6. Protection of books (from pests, dirt, damp, etc.)
7. Convenience in service.

It is well to bear all these in mind when planning any library,

though I should put the last first, and add cleanliness. They would
serve as comprehensive tests of all kinds of shelving, wooden or
metal; wall, floor, or stack. They are such important details in library
service that I will take up the different forms of shelving in
considerable detail.

Shelving, Generally

General rules in shelving are: (1) No book should be above reach

of hand from floor. This means about 6½ feet (less in children’s
rooms) or 7½ feet to cornice, or top of top space. Don’t use steps or
ladders, they are obstructive and troublesome to use.
(2) Uprights should not be more than three feet apart, to avoid
sagging, and weight in handling. Somewhat less is sometimes
advised, never more.
(3) All shelves should be of the same measurements and
interchangeable, for obvious reasons, throughout the library.
Unadvised architects are apt to fill nooks and spaces with shelving to
suit. This may not be so objectionable in fixed shelving, but is fatal
with movable shelves.
(4) Shelving should be movable as well as adjustable. Private
libraries and very small libraries can get along for a while with fixed
shelving, but when books of different sizes accumulate, and close
classification is adopted, movable shelving is necessary.
(5) Edges and corners of shelves and supports should be rounded.
If hands or books strike sharp edges roughly, they suffer.
(6) There should be no projections to catch clothing. Watch this,
especially in stacks.
(7) In shelving or supports, do not leave projections to catch dust.
This is often a fault of carved end-uprights.
(8) Have both upper and lower shelves accessible and well lighted
for easy inspection. Wherever there is ample room, use of only the
breast-high shelves is more convenient both for inspection and for
handling.
 (9) The old-fashioned ledge is not needed, except in a few
instances. It unnecessarily widens the aisle above, interfering with
close storage. Wide books can be stored elsewhere; and space to lay
books down in handling can be provided near by.
(10) The average dimensions of shelves[258] are well settled by
custom; e.g., Length (as above), not over three feet; Depth, eight
inches, except for special sizes of books (see later); Thickness; for
wooden shelves, ⅞ inch finished, (1 inch stuff, planed); Interval,
Wood or metal 10 inches (11 inches top to top of wooden shelves)
for octavos and duodecimos, though one advantage of movable
shelves is the possibility of variation if desired anywhere.
(11) No doors of any kind are used in modern library bookcases,
except where dust is to be excluded from delicate books, or thieves
are to be excluded from rare books. Doors are an impediment to
use.
Shelf-bases. To save books in sweeping, a four-inch solid base is
usually provided in all lands of shelving. In unusually high shelves,
this base projects as a step, but it is unsightly thus, and just so
much as it projects it narrows the aisles and promotes stumbling.
See Fletcher, Public Libraries.[259]
Fixed or Movable. As stated above, fixed shelving is somewhat
cheaper and more easily made, and will serve well in very small
libraries. In setting up movable shelving a row of shallow holes an
inch apart is bored an inch from the front and from the rear edge of
the inside uprights. To support the shelves, projecting pegs of
various kinds are inserted in these holes at any desired intervals.
There are several patents, the most popular one being a metallic pin
with shoulder, which may be turned over for slight alteration of
interval. Plain picture screw-eyes, with the eyes turned flat, are
favorites in some libraries, and are cheap. Accuracy is necessary in
boring the holes, and experiments are advisable as to the fit and
steadiness of the pins, so that the shelves will not be liable to tip or
fall.
 Wood or Metal. In small libraries there is no need at all of
metallic cases or shelving and it is absurdly wasteful to buy them too
soon. Wooden shelving is cheaper, easier put up by local builders,
and though it may occupy a trifle more space, is serviceable and
strong enough until superimposed stories of shelving become
necessary. Even two stories of wood can be easily managed. If you
want more than two stories to use as a stack, you must have iron or
steel. There are, of course, many advantages in metal when you
have to come to it, though it is more costly. It saves a certain
amount of space; it does not obstruct light or ventilation so much as
thicker material; it is more fireproof; shelves are more easily moved.
Metal in stacks is universal in larger libraries in America, so is
wood in small libraries. In England wood seems much more used in
large libraries than with us.
Hard wood is not necessary for shelving, the cheaper kinds of soft
wood will do, and are easier set. No backing is necessary in any
form of book case, except as a brace, or for appearance, or against
a brick or stone wall.
“Use no paint, but varnish and rub thoroughly.”—Poole.[260]
“Few village libraries need spend money for steel shelving. It costs
twice as much as oak; four or five times as much as some woods.
Wooden cases are movable, steel not; with wood you can shift and
add. You would not prefer steel in your home.... For libraries of less
than 30,000 volumes, wood is better.”—Eastman.[261]
In planning small buildings do not let manufacturers lead you into
the expense of putting in metallic shelving or fixtures. Wood answers
every need as well, and often better, and is much cheaper. Miss
Marvin says,[262] “No stack should be included in a building costing
under $20,000.” I should put the limit higher, and say “No metallic
stack is either necessary or desirable while wooden wall shelving and
floor shelving will hold the books in the library.”
 Ledges. In the early wooden shelving for libraries, ledges,
“counter ledges,” so called from their being the height of an ordinary
“counter,” were considered essential. Dewey[263] says: “These have
a double use. They give a greatly needed shelf on which readers
may lay books for consultation or while reaching others, and for the
pages in getting and putting back books.”
These ledges do not appear so much now in floor-cases or stacks.
They still survive, however, in wall-shelving.
But they served serious needs in handling books and have been
seriously missed since they disappeared from use. See an article on
a proposed substitute in stacks, under the title “Carrel,” p. 286, later.
This feature might also be used with wooden floor-cases when
lighted by “true stack windows.”
Labels, Pins, see articles in Library Notes.[264]
Head-room. It is best not to build floor-shelving, even in low
rooms, quite up to the ceiling, but to leave some room over the tops
of the books on the top shelf for free ventilation. But Dewey said at
the 1887 Conference, “Why not leave it out—use all space for
shelving, with artificial ventilation?” This might apply to the head-
room usually left at the top of stack rooms. But how about heat?
And in most libraries there is no effective artificial ventilation or
forced draft. And in many rooms outside the stack, it will not be
necessary to shelve quite up to the roof.
Shelves High or Low. The rule is, as stated, 7½ feet in height.
In many old libraries, and in a few newer ones, higher cases are
used, in order not to waste upper space in a high room, wherever
this space is not needed for ventilation or diffused light. This is very
unfortunate in inspecting or handling the books. To overcome the
difficulty of seeing and getting at the highest shelves, various forms
of steps or step ladders, or base steps and high handles on the
uprights are in use which can be investigated and adopted when
occasion requires, as it never should arise in a new building. If such
shelving is inherited, or must be used, it would be best to use these
shelves, too high to reach by hand, for storing sets of books or
magazines rarely wanted. Or a gallery can be built half way up to
avoid the awkward use of ladders.
As books to be inspected are best nearly opposite the eye of a
reader standing or sitting, live books would better not be stored on
lower shelves in any open-access cases. These shelves nearest the
floor might be used, therefore, for similar sets not often needed.
Miss Marvin[265] advises uniform height for wall-shelving all over
the building.
Low bookcases, “dwarf bookcases,” both in wall-shelving or floor
cases, are often used, for different reasons, especially to serve as
partitions, and have not the disadvantages of cases too high. In
floor-cases, the top can be used as a convenient ledge. In this form,
low cases can be set anywhere on the floor without seriously
obstructing light, ventilation, or supervision, and low cases can be
used against the wall when high-set windows are needed to throw
light further across a room.
Unusual Shapes or Sizes of Books. Minimos, (sizes under the
ordinary duodecimos) are so unusual that they can be shelved at the
ordinary intervals; and if a set or lot of such small books come
together, movable shelves can be closed together, without much
waste of depth (or by doubling back, with no waste).
Folios and quartos occur in all libraries, in the smallest as books of
reference, like dictionaries and atlases; in larger libraries they may
come anywhere. Formerly, the lower shelves in all cases were made
wider, with a ledge above, but this made the aisles so much wider
than was necessary for shoulder room above, that ledges are not
now much used in floor-shelving or stacks. Instead, special shelving
is provided not far off on each floor, and slips or dummies put on the
shelves to indicate where the larger volumes ought to come in the
regular classification, and where they can be found when wanted.
This special shelving is often put along the walls, but in late stacks
I have found it convenient at both ends of each story. The necessary
ledge can be widened without much sacrifice of space, into a shelf at
table height, which can be put to many purposes, part of it at one
end being cut into to give room for the stack stairs, which usually
rob either books or users of more room elsewhere. In other rooms,
with wooden shelving, there is almost always a convenient recess or
end, where quarto and folio shelving can be put without crowding
the other cases. Indeed, when designing a library building, one thing
to watch for is, where such shelving can be stowed away near at
hand, with the most economy of space. In floor-cases, wooden or
metal, occasional large books can be laid across two adjoining
shelves.
As to dimensions, Mr. Poole’s recommendations in 1876[266] still
hold good: a ledge about 34 inches high, with two shelves below, 18
and 16 inches high for folios, 16 inches deep, and as many shelves
as the case will allow above, 12 inches high and 10½ inches deep.
Burgoyne says,[267] 21 inches high for folios, 13 high for quartos.
These are extreme. Dewey recommends 12 × 10 inches for quartos;
for folios just double octavo measurement; large folios to be laid on
their sides.[268]
If movable shelving is installed, it will be possible to shelve the
exceptional books upright or flat, as their size and character
requires.
Burgoyne[269] advises padding flat folio shelves. The British
Museum uses cowhide; other libraries, canton flannel (bad) with
falls.
Elephant folios will require special roller shelves.

Shelves in Reading Rooms

“The books most used should be stored around the walls of the
reading-rooms.”—(Miss Marvin.[270]) This has been a common
custom, but Mr. Dana has suggested that such shelving is out of
place in reading-rooms. So H. T. Hare, in 8 The Lib. Asso. Record:
[271] “The placing of books around the walls wastes floor space
otherwise available for readers.” In this opinion I concur,[272] for the
double reason that it bars out just so many readers, and also it
necessitates movement which interferes with serious reading. As to
the former objection, take a room 30 × 40 with a perimeter of 140
feet, less say 10 feet for doors, 130 feet net: If this is shelved all
around, the shelving with the usual ledge, and the three feet space
in front of it needed for access, inspection and passing, four feet in
all, will take up 456 square feet, out of a total area of 1200, nearly
two-fifths. Without the wall shelving, the room would hold tables for
that many more readers—the use for which it is intended. As to the
latter consideration, to get at the books every attendant fetching or
returning or cleaning them, every reader consulting them, has to
pass before or beside or close back of some other reader who is
trying to abstract himself at a desk. If stored somewhere else in
floor shelving or in a stack close by, the books would not take up
more space, would be more accessible, and less in the way.
If a serious reading room can open directly into an open-shelf
floor of a stack, no wall-shelving will be necessary.
The second objection would, of course, not apply so much to
rooms for light reading where more or less motion and noise are
expected, and less serious study is usual.
Class and Study Rooms. Here wall-shelving for reference books
permanently or class books temporarily required, and sometimes
floor shelving also, or a combination of wall-shelving with occasional
projecting cases, like shallow alcoves, opposite good light, will be
required. The purpose of each room defines its needs in
arrangement and shelving, as also in staff-rooms and all special
rooms. In libraries of sufficient size, each such room should have
telephone connection with the staff, and if possible separate lifts or
corridor railway service.

Wall-Shelving
 The earliest book storage was in cupboards or alcoves, the latest
is in floor cases, but the persistent form between and even now is
that of shelving around the walls of rooms. Mr. Dana and I object to
it around reading rooms, but it now prevails, and perhaps it will still
prevail even there. Certainly it will always be serviceable in most of
the rooms of a small or large library. It was formerly continued even
in combination with floor-cases or stacks, but it is vanishing from
such book rooms to maintain its position sturdily wherever floors are
not for shelves, but for tables.
In this form, the old-fashioned shelf-ledge survives, with folio or
quarto shelving, or sometimes cupboards or bins below, and
narrower octavo shelving above. The ledge is found serviceable in
temporary examination of books and for resting them in transit.

“Every available foot of wall space should be utilized

for shelving, between the windows and under the
windows.”—Marvin.[273] [But not unless light comes
from the other side. See below. And where there is
steam heat, the space under the windows is best for
radiators.]

Wall-shelving ought always to be opposite and not next to

windows, because direct light in the eyes blinds the reader so that
he cannot distinguish the books. But if light comes from both sides
of the room, both sides can have wall cases.
Closed Cases. In private libraries and in some rare book
collections in public libraries, bookcases have locked sliding doors,
either glazed or with strong wire mesh (for ventilation), too small a
mesh to slip books through.
It is better to back wall-shelving with wood whenever placed
against brick or stone walls, to protect the books from damp and
stain.
 I have known buildings where the architect put a dado of
expensive wood around rooms where wall-shelving was to be put up
at once or was sure to come soon. This was, of course, a willful
waste, as plain sheathing, to serve as a back for the shelving, would
have been far better.

Floor-Cases

Floor-cases, as we use them, first appeared apparently in Leyden

about A.D. 1600.[274] Their use in America can be traced to the
pressure for space in the old libraries, just before the birth of the
stack, which is only floor-cases built up into stories. As the term
“floor-case” is used, it covers all bookcases set out from the wall
across the floors, usually in parallel rows perpendicular to the
windows, but sometimes radial or irregular. The cases are always
double, back to back, their dimensions in each front being just those
of wall-cases. The backs are usually open for light and ventilation,
but are sometimes wired or wainscoted with wood. If backs are not
used in floor-cases, some bracing is needed to make them rigid. The
aisles between vary in width from three feet for service to six feet
for open access, though service is possible in narrower spaces than
three feet, and open access, with good light, does not absolutely
require six. It is recommended by the authorities that cases should
not exceed fifteen feet in length. Whenever longer rows are wanted,
cross aisles at about that interval should interrupt, so that an
attendant or reader should not have to walk too far if he needs to
get quickly to the other side of a case.

Radial Cases

“In small libraries and branches, supervision is ensured by placing

floor-cases as radii of a semi-circle whose centre is the desk.”—
Bostwick.[275]
 Duff-Brown[276] says that this method of shelving secures
oversight and ease of working.
The advantages and disadvantages of this arrangement are well
summed up by Eastman,[277] who thinks it of doubtful value.
In small libraries, when set symmetrically in a true semi-circle,
radial or concentric cases certainly have a pleasing effect. The
building costs more, either in semi-circular or octagonal form, than
in rectangular (more in stone or brick than in wood), and there is
certainly waste of space in the widening of the wedge-shaped
intervals, which, however, can be partially utilized by tables or short
intervening floor-cases at their widest part.
This radial shelving has invariably, I believe, been built on the rear
of the building. In many lots it has occurred to me that putting it in
front, or on one side toward a street, could be made an agreeable
feature, and would do more than any other thing could do toward
attracting passers-by, and thus “advertising” the library far more
effectively than many publicity schemes recently suggested.
As to supervision, I have seen in a recent discussion the reminder
that one person blocks the narrow end toward the desk, and
effectively hides disorder, mutilation, or theft beyond.
Sometimes the projection from the building is rectangular, and the
shelving concentric, an arrangement likely to cast shadows. In some
American libraries long rows of slanting floor-cases, not true radii,
point toward the desk. So good a librarian as Mr. Wellman of
Springfield, has adopted this arrangement in a large rectangular
room. See also the Law Library at Rochester, N. Y. But does not this
arrangement block light rather than facilitate its penetration into the
room to the lowest shelves? I should doubt whether the advantage
in supervision would counterbalance this interference and the waste
of space. Champneys[278] (an architect) thinks there may be danger
of “overestimating police methods.” It seems to me that in sizeable
rectangular rooms, supervised entrance and exit at the desk, with
rectangular arrangement of the shelves either perpendicular to the
deskline or even athwart the room, thus trusting the public, would
be better.
In small libraries, as in branches, this arrangement is worth
considering, but should not be adopted, it seems to me, without
very careful balancing of arguments pro and con. Economy in
construction and space and difficulties in enlargement are against;
many considerations of cheerfulness and usefulness are in its favor.
Where the library is so small, however, that only three or four floor-
cases will hold all its stock of books, these in a rectangular
projection back of the desk, will give most of the effect of the radial
form, rather cheaper.
Librarians who have operated both forms could give points to any
one in doubt, and many floor plans, English as well as American,
with many interior views, are accessible to show different
arrangements.
If adopted, it seems to me that the semi-circular plan with true
radii, is better than the octagonal or rectangular walls, with obliquely
placed floor cases. These may be arranged for good supervision, but
their slant disturbs one’s sense of symmetry. Besides, the basement
beneath may be devoted to a class or lecture room, for which such a
semi-circular shape gives good light and cheerful effect.
The semi-circular plan has been adopted for alcove rooms in many
places, such as the Library of Parliament at Ottawa, Princeton
University, and so on, but these do not have radiating cases and
need not be discussed here.

Shelf Capacity

To calculate shelf capacity, it has been usual to take ten volumes

to a running foot, a figure which has been verified in some libraries.
But books vary in thickness in different kinds of literature, and the
exigencies of growth require gaps to be left in closely-classified
libraries, at the end of each subject. These facts have tended to vary
estimates, which do not now agree. In “Library Rooms and Building,”
I said,[279] “For these reasons, it is prudent to calculate about eight
volumes to a foot for octavos and under, and still less, say five
volumes to the foot, for reference books, law books, medical books,
and other bulky literature.” I have seen no reason since to change
these figures for estimates, though planners should bear in mind the
different classes and sizes of books to be stored in each room or on
each case.
The English authorities still set the average number of volumes to
a linear shelf foot rather higher, eight and a half to nine and a half
for lending libraries or fiction shelves. See also, “Stack Capacity.”

The Poole Plan

This seems to be the best place to allude to the scheme which Dr.
Poole proposed as an alternative of the stack. As Fletcher says, the
principal objection to the stack plan was as to opportunities for
readers to get at the books on the shelves. To place readers and
books in close contact, Dr. Poole proposed dividing a building mainly
into large rooms, in each of which readers should have tables near
the windows, while opposite the windows the inner portion of the
room should have floor-cases filled with some special class of books.
He got the chance to embody this idea in the building of the
Newberry Library of Chicago. As far as I know this plan has not been
adopted elsewhere as a whole, but every large library since built has
included rooms arranged more or less on this plan, which is indeed
the idea of the department library in a college; or special rooms,
such as Art and Patents, in a public library. So far as Dr. Poole
advocated his plan he furthered library efficiency and should deserve
credit and remembrance.
“In the Providence Public Library, for instance, two-fifths of the
books are shelved outside of the stack.”—Foster.[280]
But the stack plan has “won out” as a system, and has established
itself as a factor in modern American library building. Further
changes, developments and improvements are doubtless coming,
but so far as administration and architecture are concerned, the
stack must be reckoned as the distinctive difference between
libraries and other buildings.
See description and criticism of the Poole plan, with vindication of
the stack system, in B. R. Green’s article in the Library Journal.[281]
Dr. Poole was a sturdy fighter in his day, but he was an excellent,
practical librarian. If he had lived to see the stack as now improved,
and had also seen its combination with the department library or
special library in large buildings, I think he would have conceded the
merits of the new system.

Stacks

Generally. These have been adopted in this country, in nearly all

libraries which have got beyond the size where floor cases will serve.
They come into use with us much earlier in the growth of a library
than in England, where they seem not so much in favor.
The notion of the stack was first suggested by the modern revival
in America, about 1850, of the floor-case system, exemplified two
hundred years before in the Leyden University Library. The first
modern mention of this system I can find is Winsor’s description
(1876)[282] of the arrangement of his new Roxbury branch of the
Boston Public Library. In his description of the floor-cases, then only
floor-cases, he suggested the idea of providing for growth another
story of superincumbent cases, apparently of wood, with “dumb-
waiters,” and “spiral stairs.” In 1877, Winsor outlined plans for a
similar shelving of several stories with iron framework and iron
floors.[283] About this time (Winsor left the Boston Public Library and
went to Harvard as librarian in 1877), the first metallic stack (with
wooden shelves) was developed and installed in the addition to the
Harvard library building. The idea seems due to Winsor, the practical
embodiment of it in full stack form to the architects Ware and Van
Brunt. The latter described it soon after in the Library Journal,[284]
saying, “I am in part responsible for it.”
This pregnant idea, which, as developed, has done more to
change library administration and library architecture than any other
device, was evidently born in the brains of a librarian as a result of
his thought and experiments, and developed into practicability by
good architects, as all great problems of library building should be
worked out. The original stack contained all essential ideas, but
great improvements in details have since then been effected by
librarians, architects, and constructors.
Stacks were at first stoutly opposed by many librarians. As
described by Fletcher,[285] “The stack, as usually built, consists of a
series of iron bookcases [floor cases] running from bottom to top of
a high room divided at intervals of about seven feet [7½] by light
[iron] openwork or glass floors [decks]. The stack undoubtedly
offers the most compact storage of books with great ease of access
to every part.” He then enumerates the objections to the stack, the
principal of which he thinks is, “little or no provision can be made for
the access of readers to the shelves, the idea of the stack being that
of a place to keep the books when not in use.”
Since the first stack was installed at Harvard, remarkably
serviceable even then as a new idea, some of our most inventive
genius has been constantly at work in trying to perfect the
advantages of the system, and overcome its acknowledged defects.
Construction, ventilation, heating, lighting, communications, ease of
operation, have been gradually improved, and recently Dr. Poole’s
and Mr. Fletcher’s principal objection, difficulty of use by readers, has
been so greatly overcome that a later chapter has been devoted to
this subject. There are several good patent stacks in the market,
which deserve study and a chance to submit bids in every new
building project, large or small.
The best method of planning is for the librarian to calculate how
many volumes he will have to provide for, and how large a stack he
needs (floor area, and number of “decks”); to lay out, with the
assistance of the architect, a floor plan for one story, with the
number and width of gangways he wants, and a specification of
stairways, lifts, folio-shelving, and other peculiarities.
It is better not to wait for working drawings and specifications for
main building, or even for the stack shell (or building), but to ask for
two bids for a stack of size described, one for the cheapest form and
material each maker can supply, and another for the best form he
would recommend, with his cheapest price for that. This alternative
is suggested, because each make claims certain advantages over the
other, which might overbalance a difference in price. The invitation
to bid should reserve the right “to reject any bid for cause,” and the
final decision should be reserved for the building committee, under
recommendation of librarian and architect. The considerations for
determination can be: cost, strength, lightness, compactness,
adjustability, cleanliness (including lack of projections to catch dust);
convenience of stairs, lifts, floors; details of heating and lighting;
and pleasing design.
After the bid has been assigned, and before the makers have
begun on construction, I advise calling their expert into consultation,
and asking him if he can suggest any change or improvement in any
point which will increase the usefulness of the stack, without
increasing its cost. There is such a keen competition between stack
builders, that any of them would welcome such a conference, in the
hope of getting ideas from librarian or architect which might help
him improve his patent.
The stack thus bid for is to be self-supporting, deriving its solidity
from its own uprights, without depending in any degree on the shell,
with which the architect will only cover it and protect it from the
weather.
Location. A stack may be installed inside the building; for
instance, all along the rear,[286] or side or front. A small stack is
often a feature of a large department room. But generally it occupies
an ell or wing of the building, of light construction, projecting from
the rear, or from one side.
Where the building must face a noisy street there seems to be no
reason why the stack, rather than reading rooms, should not be
located there. Why could it not be designed, even if “true stack
windows” would make it look like an organ front, as a distinctive
architectural feature?
“The stack may be as refreshing a problem for the hard-witted
architect to struggle with as he is liable to meet. It may be that the
reading rooms will be within, shut off from every noise, and the
stack arranged along the exterior.”—Russell Sturgis.[287]
The reading room is now often put just over the stack, as a top-
story, separated from it by a solid floor, but connected with it by
service tubes, telephones and lifts. But in colleges, is it not better to
use such a location for seminar rooms, and in many libraries could it
not be used as part of an exhibition and special library or special
study floor?
The Stack Shell. That is to say, the addition in which the stack is
housed. As has been said, it usually projects from the rear (but
sometimes from the side) of the main building, as an ell or wing. It
can be of lighter, simpler and plainer construction than the rest, for it
needs no other strength than is necessary to support its own walls
and roof. Indeed, it has not yet been the victim of architectural
ostentation. On the exterior, true stack windows usually run up and
down the whole height, although they may be interrupted by cross
sections at the level of the floors or decks, or rather just above
them.
From recent experiments I have made in a stack, I am led to think
that here, as elsewhere, top light from windows is ten times more
valuable for penetration than bottom light, hence such a cross-
section of wall, about a foot wide, if it has any binding power,
strengthens the wall, gives space inside for heating pipes, or looks
better, would not abstract any illumination from the interior. Perhaps,
however, the piers do not need such binding. That is a question for
the architect, and depends largely on their construction. If they are
re-enforced by iron or steel T-beams, the piers need not be massive
or be strengthened otherwise.
Some authorities (Champneys,[288] for instance) recommend solid
floors every three decks, as guard against spread of fire, but this
extra expense, not needed for support, seems to me unnecessary as
protection.
The material of stacks must be iron, or better, steel, to support so
much weight. The construction, indeed, is much like that of a “sky
scraper,” whose steel frame stands alone, without help from the
walls.
Use by Readers. It does not seem either possible or desirable to
plan for continuous use of any space in stacks by readers. The
temperature both in summer and winter is usually not so equable as
in other rooms. The main object of the stack, which is book storage,
is just so much frustrated by surrender of shelf space to readers. But
there is much inconvenience in excluding them entirely.
It is a hindrance to investigation to have to make inquiries, or
selections, through the medium of an application at a desk. A large
number of serious readers want to glance at all the books bearing
on the point they are investigating, often to “taste” books by dipping
into them here and there; and to make choice directly from the
shelves, of books they want to examine more thoroughly or copy
from, to be carried to a public or private reading room and used
there undisturbed at leisure. They want free access to the stack for
ten minutes only at a time, but they want it badly. See Fletcher.[289]
“It is fortunate for those who have the use of a library if they can
be admitted to the shelves and select their books by actual
examination.”—Cutter.[290]
For this, several devices have been used. One is to leave the
space in stacks next to windows for tables and chairs, to be used by
readers. “Or alcoves on one side, as in Iowa College.”—(Marvin.[291])
A variation of this takes the form of “cubicles,” little glassed-in rooms
next the windows, as in the new Harvard Law School stack, or as
proposed for the Harvard University Library. But before using this
form generally, it would be better to calculate, first, how much space
this will abstract from the storage capacity of the stack; second, how
much it affects the penetration of daylight into the stack; third, how
often any one reader will want to use any one section of the library
so long as to make this arrangement worth while; fifth, the expense
of construction and provision of equivalent stack room elsewhere;
and sixth, the problems of heating and ventilation, for readers who
require reading-room conditions.
Another favorite device is to shorten the outer ends of ranges of
shelves, say by one three-foot section, in every other case on every
floor, where a tiny desk can be set into the range, with a chair or
stool underneath for the use of a reader. This furnishes room for
reading but pro tanto less space for books.
Open Access Stacks. Can wider aisles be left in stacks so that
readers may stand well back or stoop to inspect books, and pass
each other easily? Yes, stack cases five feet “on centres” will allow
fairly free movement, as this means 3-feet-6-inch or even 3-feet-8-
inch aisles. But no such width could well be allowed as is called for
with open-access floor cases, i.e., six feet clear between. The
present methods of stack construction would not apparently lend
themselves well to wide spaces on the ground floor and narrow
spaces above, because the uprights would not directly support each
other. A building might have, indeed, two or more different stacks,
one open access for readers, the other close storage for books, but
this seems rather wasteful. Is there no way to provide, in a stack
which will give the maximum storage, some facility for such
inspection and handling as is needed both for staff and readers?
A Suggestion. In reading “Clark’s Use of Books,” I came across
an old expedient of mediæval days which will give a good name for
the device I had already thought of. (See next section.) His
quotation[292] is as follows:—
“In the north Syde, the Cloister was all fynely glazed. And in every
wyndowe iii Pewes or Carrels, where every one of the old Monks had
his carrell, severall by himselfe, and there studied upon there books.
From one stanchell of a window to another, and in every one was a
deske to lye their bookes on.” “These were devices to provide a
certain amount of privacy for literary work.”[293]
Carrels. While thinking of this conflict between the desired use by
readers and the close storage which is the proper use of a stack, I
tried to find some wasted space which might serve the one use
without infringing upon the other. While searching I noticed that
window ledges were thus wasted. Look through Koch’s floor plans,
[294] or any others, and you will notice that window frames, usually
set midway between the outer and inner surfaces of the wall, were
sometimes set flush with the inner surface, thus leaving outside a
window “stool” nearly the full width of the wall. But why leave it
outside where it would be only useful for pigeon-roosts or flower-
boxes, neither strictly necessary? Why not set the window-frame
flush with the outer wall and so leave the whole ledge inside, both
sill and stool? In the Salem Public Library stack, as the architect saw
no structural reason against it, this has been tried. In each stack
window on every floor a thin shelf has been run across, table high.
The setting back allows this shelf to be twelve inches deep and three
feet long without projecting into the aisle, and without materially
interfering with light. Set a stool near and here is provision, close to
the books, and without cutting into the stack, for just as many
choosers of books as there are windows on each floor. When no
readers need them, here is a ledge for attendants to use in
assembling or dispersing books.
This device does not suit permanent reading, for which the stack
is not intended,—but why does it not perfectly meet the needs of
casual inspection, and choice?
 It has been gradually tried out. In the John Hay Memorial Library
at Brown, rather narrow window-shelves were tried; then wider
sloping desks at the Episcopal Theological School; and recently, the
wider Salem carrels, where the windows are set quite flush with the
exterior of the piers.
There is still an opportunity for experiment and development. Is
such a shelf better, fixed or hinged? What would be the simplest
form of hinging and fastening? Is it better, in view of its temporary
and intermittent use, to have it at desk height, for a standee? How
thin can it be, and of what wood, cheapest and least liable to
splitting? Might not metal shelves, furnished with the stack, be
better, and about as cheap?
As finally improved with these carrels we could bring the whole
stack back to the narrowest intervals consistent with moving books,
and thus avoid resort to underground stacks and sliding cases, until
much later.
[Webster’s International Dictionary gives only the spelling “carol,”
but the old records call it “carrell.”]
At Durham, the carrels were 2 feet 9 inches wide. At Gloucester
there were twenty carrels, each 4 feet wide, 6 feet 9 inches high,
and 19 inches deep.[295]
The modern Salem Public Library carrel is wider than the one at
Durham, and about as high and deep as those at Gloucester
Cathedral.
Stack Details. Dark Interiors are discussed elsewhere; having
the library built around a stack, to be lighted by electricity, open to
daylight only by way of the roof, and opening to outer corridors or
rooms on each floor. This is mainly an architectural problem, though
its administrative aspects would have to be considered by the
librarian.
Height. The height of each stack floor is generally set at seven
feet to seven and a half. I favor seven and a half, of the two, so that
a tall man need not stoop under the deck beams and electric bulbs.
In order to get the ground floor of building and stack coterminous,
the lower story of the stack must correspond with that of the
building, which is not usually higher than ten feet. As it is most
convenient to have the basement floors of stack and building also
coterminous, the unusual height, for this case only, may be
accepted, and the inconveniently high shelves used for some kind of
slow or dead books.
It is usual to leave several feet above the top shelves, just under
the roof, for ventilation.
“Broken” floors are used in some libraries, the Massachusetts
State Library, for instance; one stack floor being three and one-half
feet higher and the next one three and one-half feet lower than the
corresponding building floor, on the idea that it is easier to go up or
down half a flight than a whole flight, for anyone wanting to get
books. But isn’t the average the same? In this form, the very great
convenience of moving books by trucks is sacrificed, so that the
almost universal custom is to have the ground floor, and every
second floor above, level in the stack with floors in the building, thus
fixing the height of the latter at fourteen or fifteen feet, except the
top floor, which is free, and the basement, usually determined by
other exigencies.
The material used for “decks” may be openwork iron, marble, or
more usually translucent ground glass.
The floor of the stack as well as of the building basement, is
generally cemented, with special provisions for excluding dampness.
Passages. Those running lengthwise may be called gangways,
those across between cases, aisles. The number of gangways varies
with the size and use of the stack. Although it might be built without
a center gangway, and have one on each side, or only on one side—
it would then be a very narrow stack—the usual construction is to
have a gangway about four feet wide down the center, and one of
less width (just enough to allow passing around, say two feet,) at
each outer end. But if it is desired to have very close packing, these
side gangways may not be necessary. In building the new Salem
stack, Mr. Jones decided that he could so run the classification of the
books from the center around back to the center, in every aisle, that
there would be little need of passing around the outer ends, and he
could omit them and so gain that much more for books.
The center gangway may be any width desired, but should of
course be wide enough to serve as thoroughfare for men, book-
trucks, and boxes. Although four feet seems the average width, it
varies from three feet to six feet in existing libraries. Good, large
windows on each floor should light gangways at the far end.
The length of aisles varies with the width of the stack building,
though limited by the belief that no bookcase should be more than
15 or 18 feet long, which requires other gangways at that interval.
The width of the aisles has varied. The original Harvard width, 2 feet
4 inches, appears to be the very narrowest which will allow passage
of two persons, or stooping to the lower shelves; 2 feet 8 inches is
very common; 3 feet is so roomy that the stack becomes convenient
for limited open-access; while 5 feet “on centers” (3′ 6″ or 8″ aisle)
is the maximum in stacks at present.
Many stacks have wide intervals at the sides of the “deck” in each
aisle—so wide as to have to be wired to prevent books falling
through—“for ventilation, diffusion of light, and communication,” but
such wide spaces are not needed for light or ventilation, and are
much handier for dropping pencils than for passing books, so that I
prefer wider decks with small rims for protection, and much
narrower spaces along the cases.
Stairs. Stack stairs need not be wide, for they are so short that
two people never need to pass. Two feet wide is enough. When first
adopted, circular stairs were used, as supposed to occupy less
space, but they were found to be inconvenient and dangerous, and
since measurement has shown that straight stairs need occupy no
more space, the “cork screws” have been entirely superseded. Eight-
inch risers and 9-inch treads are recommended by Champneys,[296]
who thinks, by the way, 2 feet 4 inches the right width, iron with
rubber treads being the material.
Stairs should be put in wherever they will be most convenient, and
where they interfere least with book storage and passing. One flight
certainly should be next the entrance on each floor, and one flight
generally at the other end. If they be set sideways in the folio
shelving there, which is not always all needed, they seem to
interfere least. (See paragraph on circular or winding stairs.)
Lifts. Light lifts for single books, or few books at a time, are
needed for all stacks (See that title, on page 228.) In large libraries
and high stacks, elevators large and strong enough to carry trucks
and boxes, are also necessary. For lifts, hand operation will serve, or
electricity; for freight elevators, some sort of power is better.
Every such carrier should run from basement to top, with opening
on every floor. A speaking tube should run beside it, with
mouthpiece also on each floor.
Ledges. (See under Shelving, p. 265.) As a ledge on both sides of
each case would greatly narrow the aisles for passage and diminish
the capacity for storage, these have disappeared from the modern
stack. Their place has been taken in some stacks by sliding shelves
(to be drawn out when wanted), which do not appear to be entirely
satisfactory. But the need for some substitute, for the use of which
Dewey speaks, has suggested ledges for folio shelving on each floor
and for the new device of carrels, which may at least partially
replace ledges without diminishing storage capacity or easy passage.
Shelves. The shelving of stacks follows the rules already described
under the title “Shelving,” except as dimensions are varied by the
use of steel, which is less bulky. Movable shelves also allow more
variety in intervals to suit the average size of books in any part of
the stack. It is usual to maintain the 10-inch height for intervals
between shelves, all over the stack, except as thus modified here
and there to suit exigencies and except for folio shelving at the ends
(or sides) of each floor.
 Different patents offer much choice in stack shelving. Avoid
especially projections, likely to catch dust or tear clothing or injure
books. Test very carefully all forms of “clutch” or detachable shelves.
Stack Lighting. Natural. North light is the best, but the choice is
not often open. The location of the stack is determined usually by
other considerations than aspect. Unless it runs along the rear or
side of the main building; if it projects, that is, it will naturally have
two sides lighted, one of which in any location would have to be
south or west, and thus sunny. If wired glass is used as a protection
against fire it will be more or less opaque and thus will temper glare.
Shades can, of course, be used on the worst exposure, and some
contrivance can be used, like that at the Library of Congress, to work
all these curtains at once to save time.
Overhead light will penetrate one glass floor of a stack fairly well,
not more.[297]
“If daylight is on the whole better and more wholesome, as it is
certainly cheaper than electric light, then a well windowed stack
room is better than a dark one.”—Russell Sturgis.[298]
Light penetrates stack aisles effectively only about twenty feet,
hence a stack lighted on both sides may be forty feet wide, plus
width of centre aisle.
Artificial. The best light is, of course, electricity, and here the
expert of the stack to be installed can give valuable advice. The
question of the location of the bulbs, their power, their direction
(transverse or perpendicular), their frequency, their wiring, their
switches, such questions must be determined. As a great deal might
depend on the particular structure of the stack, one bid for the
stack, another for the lighting, with specifications from each bidder,
might be invited.
Hand bulbs at the end of cords have not been found satisfactory.
Various devices have been used, but good systems of fixed lights
(bulbs with reflectors and shades), worked well by means of
switches, have been perfected.
 Reflective Colors. To help diffusion and local effectiveness of both
natural and artificial light, inner walls and the whole stack would well
be painted some agreeable light tint of enamelled paint. This is a
question of taste for the architect, with approval by librarian and
committee.

Stack Windows

As stack windows must be high and narrow, they introduce a new

and imperative architectural feature on the exterior of the stack
fronts. The usual form is a continuous window from foundation to
eaves. This may, however, be broken for a foot up from every floor,
by a cross band of iron or stone, for effect or for any interior
convenience, like continuous hanging of steam pipes, without real
diminution of daylight inside, provided that the windows run quite to
the ceiling in each deck, to give full top light. If the windows are
glazed with wire glass, they will afford some protection from outside
fire, and being opaque, would temper the glare of sunlight. Factory
ribbed glass is also used, as both tempering and intensifying
daylight.
True Windows. To give full effect the piers between windows
should be only as thick as the depth of the double book cases,
sixteen inches, and directly opposite them. They have only to
support themselves and the roof, as the stack floors are independent
and self-supporting. Re-enforcement with a steel T-beam will render
them stiff enough with sixteen inch width, and even allow flaring
from the windows to admit more light.
With this construction, each window can have the full width of the
aisle it fronts and be so framed and glazed as not to intercept any
light, thus throwing illumination as far as possible down the aisle,
with oblique rays from the side of the window to the other side of
the aisle, reaching both rows of books to the far end.
This I call a true stack window. In looking over modern plans, you
will see that many libraries have them as to position, though the