Date Visited: July 15, 2014
The Central Library in Edinburgh is an amazing building and library. I was very impressed by everything I saw there. My group was given a tour by Beverly Casebow. Ms. Casebow showed us different rooms throughout the library and explained a little about its history. The building itself was built in 1890. In 1932 it was decided that there needed to be a library devoted to Scottish studies, so the building became a library.
One of the most interesting things about this building itself is how they have been trying to modernize it, but still keep some of the old charm of the building. They added a large Mezzanine in the 1960’s. This room appeared much more modern than the building itself. This is where they have begun housing the teen books and a music library. Ms. Casebow commented on how the music library is becoming a very popular feature of the library. I love how they have a keyboard. Our class had seen this earlier at the Barbican Library, but I had never seen it before that. I think it is an excellent idea to put keyboards in public libraries.
I thought the most amazing part of the library was the reference library. The room itself is beautiful. It reminded me of the library in the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast. The room is two stories high with books stretching up to the ceiling. There are narrow spiral stair cases hidden in the corners of the walls. These stair cases lead to the balcony so all of the books can be accessed. The stair cases are guarded by a small lockable wooden door. Another interesting thing about this room was the card catalog. There is still and extensive card catalog lining one of the walls of the room. Computers have been installed in the room and the library’s catalog is searchable online, but the card catalog is still kept.
There is also a very modern children’s area in the library. The children’s area has a separate craft room where children can create things. There is a separate room where story times are conducted. This room has been decorated by professional illustrators for children’s books. The library also contains a separate craft room for children to use. Once again I really like the idea of a craft room, adjacent to the children’s area, in a public library. I think a lot of public libraries could benefit from that.
When the tour was completed we all regrouped in a conference room where the library staff provided us with refreshments. At that time David McClay talked to us briefly about the goals of the library and the library websites. I think this was a very beneficial visit. It was nice to see how a public library functions in Edinburgh, and it also gave me ideas for public libraries here in the US.
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