University of Illinois, Library SchoQj. The Grand Rapids Public Library A LITTLE JOURNEY IN THE RYERSON PUBLIC LIBRARY BUILDING On entering the door to the large hall around which the public rooms on the first floor are grouped you will find directly in front of the door a standard on which special notices are posted. Always look at these notices on entering the building. There is sure to be something new here every few days. We shall now make a tour of the public rooms, taking things in their order to the right, unless otherwise stated. First we see the water cooler, supplied all the year around with ice water, boiled. Next is the coat room, where you can have your coat, hat, umbrella, or parcel checked, free. Do not offer the boy a tip. His acceptance leads to dismissal. ® Newspaper Room Beyond the coat room is the Newspaper and Magazine Room. Nearly 300 current per- iodicals are filed here. The current period- icals for circulation are in this room; like- wise the engineering, technical, and trade journals. Next in the hall is the bulletin board, on which you will find posted cover designs of new books, the weather bureau map, and other things of interest from time to time. Children's Room The next room is the Children's Room. Do not fail to see this. It is one of the most attractive rooms of the kind in the country. Besides the books and magazines for children you will find the Winnie Whitfield Butler Col- lection of Picture Books in Colors for Chil- dren in this room. Be sure to notice the low tables and chairs, and also the window seats. Beyond the Children's Room is the Gen- eral Circulation desk. Here all books are re- turned and the ])ooks taken from the stacks charged. Notice the artistic grill work at this desk; also the attractive mahogany benches in fi-ont of it. IJeyond the Circubitioii dc^sk is the Lib- rarian's oltice. The (b)or Ironi the hall is kept eb)se(I. ;\sk at the (K-sk if you wish to see him. 2 Registration Room Next is the stairway leading to the base- ment. The men's toilet room is at the end of the hallway, after you turn the corner at the foot of the stairs. On the first floor as we pass the stairway from the Circulation desk we come to the Registration Room. Here you get your card entitling you to draw books. The regulations are simple and are only for the purpose of a square deal for all. In this room you will also find the open shelves, on which there are several thousand books and where you can always find a good book when you are looking for "something to read." Be- sides the books in English, there are on the shelves collections of books in a number of foreign languages — German, Holland, Polish, French, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, etc. The travel guides to help you plan your vaca- tion are also in this room. Here, too, is the public card catalogue and the printed cata- logues with someone always ready and willing to explain them to you. Never hesitate to ask questions on any point you do not under- stand. Everybody in the Library is at your service to find for you the information you want. Historical Room The next room is the Historical Room, for material relating to Grand Rapids and Michigan. Be sure to look at the things in the show case. In this room you will also find exhibitions of books and plates from time to time. Get the habit of looking into this room every time you come to the build- ing, so as to see all the new things shown here. Marbles After leaving the Historical Room we come to the stairway leading to the second floor. In going to the first landing notice the 3 ladies in the marble wainscoting over the landing, holding their skirts as though they were crossing Monroe street on a rainy day. Nature placed them in the marble. Notice the marbles all the way up. All the colored marbles are known as violet breccia. They are said to be of volcanic origin and they come from Italy. The marbles in the floors are from Carrara, Italy, except the mosaics, some of which are from France. The green marbles for the door frames and for the base boards, etc., are from Vermont, known as Alps Green marbles. Reference Room The room to the right on the second floor is the Reference Room. Notice the general architectural design, the mantel, the lighting fixtures, and the mahogany furniture in this room. Over 300 current periodicals are filed here; and about 2500 reference books are on the open shelves. Ask the Librarian at the desk for assistance in your search for any particular information, or simply go to the shelves to get the things you want. None of the things in this room are for general circula- tion. / You will want to see especially some of the furniture and art books in this room. The Library is building up the best collection in America of books on furniture and the allied arts. The door beyond the Reference Room leads to the Medical Reading Room. About 40 medical periodicals are on file here for the use of doctors, nurses, etc. When you wish to use this room inquire at the Reference Room desk. y\t the other side of the hall from the entrance to the Medical Reading Room is the women's toilet. In(|uire at the Reference Room desk for the key. 4 Lecture Room Across the corridor from the Reference Room is the Lecture Room. These two rooms are exactly the same size, but the color effect of the ceiling and walls is wholly different. Be sure to notice it. The Lecture Room, with the use of chairs around the sides and rear, can seat about 350 persons. It is expected, however, that it will ultimately be used as a Periodical Reading Room. From time to time during the year there is hung on the walls of the Lecture Room and the Corridor leading to it exhibitions of paintings, etc. These ex- hibitions are visited by tens of thousands of people annually. Furniture The furniture in all these rooms was made to order for this building, from original designs by the architects. Mahogany is the wood used on the second floor, except the opera chairs in the Lecture Room, which have a mahogany finish. In the rooms on the first floor the furniture is all quarter-sawed oak, stained almost brown, with a wax finish, except in the furniture in the hall, which is mahogany. Color Scheme The lighting fixtures and railings, dulled with verdigris, the doors covered with green leather studded with brass, the walls of the upper and lower halls a Pompeian red, and the ceilings a mellow ivory, all combine to give a most pleasing color effect. The whole color scheme received much attention on the part of the designers and builders, and the beauty of the building as a whole grows upon one the longer he is with it. This little journey takes in only about a third of the floor space of the building. The work rooms, the steel book stacks with their 5 glass floors, the study rooms, the boiler room, the fan room, the store rooms, the fumigating room, the shipping and packing room, etc., must be reserved for another occasion. In all there are nearly fort}- rooms. On leaving the building notice the tablet in the vestibule, which states that it was erected for the use of the Grand Rapids Public Library and presented to his native city by ]^Iartin A. Ryerson in 1904. As Viewed From the Street When you get to the sidewalk turn and take another look at the building. It is 124 feet front and 68 feet deep, with a large wing for stacks in the rear, 47^ by 58 feet. All the walls are of Bedford stone. The style of the architecture is Renaissance, though Greek in its simplicity. The stone work around the entrance and the cornice is finely carved, the seal of the City of Grand Rapids centering the carved work over the door. Above the cornice" is an ornamental terra cotta cheneau, from which the red tile roof recedes. The top of ■the roof is covered with glass, which serves as a skylight for the halls. "Built on Honor" The architects of the building were ^Messrs. Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, of Bos- ton and Chicago. Its cost is not known, but with its equipment it has l^een estimated as l)eing in the neighl)orhood of $300,000. It is the handsoniest and l)est pul)lic building in (irand Rapids, the l)est library l)uilding in Michigan, and is already widely known as one of llu' ])est of its kind in the country lUit perhaps the highest compliment tluit has been paid it is these words of one who has an intel- ligent knowledge of its construction: "it was built on lionor." September. THE GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC LIBRARY Main (Ryerson) Library and 36 branches and stations. More than 125,000 books and pamphlets. /OO current periodicals received for your use in the Reading Rooms. Collections of books in the English, French, German, Holland, Polish, Norwegian, Swedish and Italian languages, with other languages to be added shortly. Current periodicals in the English, French, German, Holland, Polish, Swedish, Norwegian and Spanish languages. Daily newspapers from 15 different cities, one from Amsterdam, Holland. You will find much in its collection to interest and to help you in your work, what- ever your trade, your business, or your profession. The Library adds from 8,000 to 10,000 volumes a year. It proposes to have on its shelves some books fc-r every art and for every industry in Grand Rapids. You cannot afford to neglect the oppor- tunities for business, for pleasure, for study, offered by the Library. The use of the books and periodicals in the buildings is free to every one. Citizens and tax-payers of Grand Rapids may receive a card to take books from the buildings without 7 cost. Non-resident non-taxpayers may rel ceive a card for drawing books on the pay! ment of $2.50 a year. I For the news of the Library, announce! ments of lectures, exhibitions, new booksl location and hours open at the branches, gel the monthly bulletin every'month. It is freJ for the asking at the Ryerson building and all the branches. I If you have never registered to receive a card for drawing books — DO IT NOW. LIBRARY HOURS Ryerson Public Library Building, Open week days 8:30 a. m, to 9 p. m| Sundays and Holidays, reading rooms only 2 to 6 p. m: 8