tration]

=The Main Reading Room=, in the rear, extends nearly the entire length of
the building. It has a floor area of half an acre, and is divided in the
middle by a booth from which books are delivered. There are seats for
768 readers. Mr. A. C. David, in the article previously quoted from the
_Architectural Record_, says:

"The Main Reading Room is one of the most spacious rooms in the
world--beautifully proportioned, lighted by a series of windows on
both the long sides of the room, and entirely accessible to the
stacks. To have obtained a room of these dimensions, so excellently
adapted to its purpose in every respect, was a great triumph for
the architects."

[Illustration: DOOR OF EXHIBITION ROOM]

The shelves along the walls contain a collection of about
25,000 volumes. These books are not only the usual works of
reference,--dictionaries, encyclopaedias, and the like, but they also
include a good working library of general literature,--philosophy,
religion, science, history, law, biography, standard novels, poetry, and
the drama. These books are for the free use of anyone in this room,
without the need of making any application. The reader has only to
select the book he wishes, and to take it to a table, where he may
consult it. When he has finished he should leave it on the table, rather
than attempt to return it to its place, since a misplaced book is
temporarily lost.

=The Library's Books.= It should be kept in mind that the books of the
Reference Department are all in the Central Building, and must all be
used in that building. The great body of them are in the stack beneath
the Main Reading Room. In addition, there are the books in the Main
Reading Room itself, and in the special reading rooms in other parts of
the building. Books and pamphlets number, altogether, about one million
and a quarter.

[Illustration: ENTRANCE LOBBY, LOOKING WEST]

The books in the Central Circulation Room and in the Children's Room in
the basement, the books in the Library for the Blind, those in the
Travelling Libraries office in the basement, and those in the
forty-three Branch Libraries in other parts of the Boroughs of
Manhattan, The Bronx, and Richmond are under control of the
Circulation Department of the Library. Nearly all of these books are
lent to borrowers for home use. They number about 1,100,000 volumes.

[Illustration: SOUTH SIDE OF EXHIBITION ROOM]

[Illustration: MAIN