DUNEDIN ATHENÆUM IMPROVEMENTS.

Evening Star, Issue 11668, 1 October 1901, Page 6

DUNEDIN ATHENÆUM IMPROVEMENTS.

During the past few months considerable changes have' been made in the Dunedin Athemnum. At the present time the library is being enlarged and renovated, and when the improvements are completed they will greatly enhance the appearance of the building besides rendering it more convenient for members find for the staff generally. The principal alteration consist in the enlargmant of one portion of the library. The room which was formerly used as an office, and also the porch, have been pulled down and thrown into the library. This alteration gives increased length to the library, and allows freer access to the daylight. \Vhat was formerly used as a ladies reading room has been partitioned off and made into an office for the librarian. The hall and vestibule are also being altered and improved. A wall has been built, up over the stairway, so as to prevent, the draught, from entering the hall, and a new glass door has been erected a few feet from the main entrance, while a porch which formerly separated the hall from the vestibule has been taken away, and glass doors placed in the opening to the hall. The shelving accommodation in the library has also been considerably increased, while the whole place is to be suitably painted. In addition to these alterations considerable changes have been made in the arrangement of the library. Three new tables have been introduced into (he reading rooms, and new cards of contents ha.vo been placed opposite each table. Quite a number of new magazines have been added to the reading rooms; in fact, every effort is being made to bring the institution up to date. There are also index boards in the hall and in the newspaper room, by means of which any member or visitor to the institution can readily ascertain where any particular paper or magazine in the reading rooms is located. The fiction department of the library is at present being rearranged, and wherever possible the works of different, authors are Heine shelved under their respective names. Further, the shelves are being numbered, and index boards provided, so that it will be an easy task for anyone—even a .stranger entering the library for the first time—to find the work of any author he or she desirgs to, obtain. In that portion of the library in which the literature of a more solid character is shelved the whole of the books have been relabelled, a different-col-ored label being utilised for each section. This new system will enable displacement of books to be readily' delected, and will greatly facilitate the work of the staff, and render'it more convenient for members to pick out the books they wish to read. As far as we know, this is the first Hbrary in the colony where the new system has been adopted. The carpenters have practically finished tlieir part, of the work, and (he painters will soon lake in hand the necessary decorations.