Prelude
Reading edition
Every public building should express, with dignity Its individual type, use, place, and era.
A library is a prominent public building As practical and technical as a schoolhouse; A workshop for the future, not a relic of the past. Seldom rich enough for its needs, it abhors waste. Change and growth will soon supplant it. Build it for use, not show; for now, not for ever:— Tastefully, tactfully, thriftily, thoroughly.
To plan it, find an able librarian, To construct it, get a skillful architect, To control both, choose a wise committee. These three, by patient study and debate, Can satisfy taste without sacrificing use— Achieving complete and felicitous success.
HOW TO PLAN A LIBRARY BUILDING FOR LIBRARY WORK
By CHARLES C. SOULE A.B. Harv. 1862
Firmitas, Utilitas, Venustas
—Vitruvius de Architectura
BOSTON THE BOSTON BOOK COMPANY 1912
Copyright, 1912 By CHARLES C. SOULE
The Riverdale Press, Brookline, Boston, Mass.
To The Architect who is the Librarian’s best friend when they plan together a sound, useful and beautiful building this volume is inscribed