Additions to the Library from May 1st to June 1st, 1900. Mailed to any address for 25 cents a year, in advance. OFFICERS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES. W. N. Frew, President. Chas. M. Schwab, Treasurer. Edwin H. Anderson, Librarian. William R. Watson, Assistant Librarian. Miss E. M. Willard, Reference Librarian. Miss M. F. Macrum, Chief of the Loan Department. Miss H. E. Cory, Librarian Lawrenceville Branch. MT. WASHINGTON BRANCH. The Mt. Washington branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh was formally opened the evening of May 31st. The building stands on a bluff 500 feet above the Monongahela river, on the South side of the city, on Grand View Avenue. It overlooks the greater part of Pittsburgh, and commands a fine view of the Alleghany Valley, and the junction of the Monongahela and Alleghany rivers, which form the Ohio. The building is modeled on the plan of the West End branch library, except that it has glass partitions which separate the adult reading room and the children's room from the loan lobby. The general fittings of the library are an improvement upon those of the other branch libraries. The charging desk is octagonal instead of circular. The details of drawers, lockers, etc., have been carefully worked out to facilitate the routine work and economize space. There are no stacks, but behind the loan desk are shelves for reference books, and the remainder of the books are on shelves around the walls of the reading rooms. The adult room is provided with two bulletin boards, covered with corticine, brown in tone to match the woodwork. These are built into the wall over the radiators. The magazine rack is also built into the wall. This room has a shelving capacity of 7,000 volumes, and a seating capacity of 64 at eight tables, of ordinary height and 4 ft. 8 in. long by 3 ft. 3 in. wide. There is also an attendant's desk. In the Children's room the shelving is 57 inches high. Over the shelving rises, to the height of 27 inches, a brown corticine frieze. This makes a good back ground for small framed pictures, hung within easy reach of the children's eyes; or, it may be used for a picture catalogue of the books on the shelves underneath. The moulding above this frieze is the same height from the floor as that over the shelving in the adult room, and the sympathy of the furnishings is thus maintained. These shelves which run around three sides of the room are broken into in two places by radiators, over which are corticine bulletin boards. On the fourth side of the room runs the glass partition ending in a magazine rack (with bulletin board) built into the wall and a wash bowl concealed in a locker. Under the glass partition are low shelves, and drawers for mounted pictures. The shelving capacity of this room is about 5,000 volumes. The furniture of the room differs slightly from that in the other branches; the tables, eight in number, accommodate ten chairs each; and there is an attendant's desk specially designed for the purpose. An attempt has been made to make the room homelike and decorative, with palms and pictures. The long frieze is hung with twenty small framed pictures, among which are a set of seven pictures in blue and white, showing Dutch children in their home life, Whistler's "Little Rose," Velasquez's "Laughing Boy," four of Fra Angelico's angels, and Sewell's frieze of the "Canterbury Pilgrims" Large wall photographs of Raphael's "Madonna of the chair,” “King Arthur," and a Landseer lion are hung over the book cases. Two large United States flags are draped above the bulletin board, over which is a shelf for potted ferns. |