Manchester Library & Information Service

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There has been a public library service in Manchester since 1852, when the Manchester Free Library opened in the Hall of Science, Campfield, on the site of what is now the Museum of Science and Industry. Famous figures such as Charles Dickens and William Thackeray attended and spoke at its inauguration. Manchester had taken advantage of powers granted by the Public Libraries Act 1850 (13 & 14 Vict. c. 65) to become the first local authority to establish a rate-supported public lending and reference library.{{cite web|url=http://www.manchester.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?categoryID=1062&documentID=1212&pageNumber=2|title=History of Central Library|work=manchester.gov.uk|publisher=Manchester City Council|at=Before Central Library|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080210214548/http://www.manchester.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?categoryID=1062&documentID=1212&pageNumber=2|archivedate=10 February 2008}} Andrea Crestadoro, Chief Librarian of the city 1864–1879,{{cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/researchregister/1.9/?app_cd=RR&page_cd=RESEARCHER&l_researcher_id=107 |title=Experts - The British Library |website=Bl.uk |date=2014-01-13 |accessdate=2016-07-27}} is credited with being the first person to propose that books could be catalogued by using keywords that did not occur in the title of the book.{{cite book|last1=Olson|first1=Hope A.|last2=Boll|first2=John J.|last3=Aluri|first3=Rao|title=Subject Analysis in Online Catalogs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=95eNUIfNiLEC&pg=PA112|year=2001|publisher=Libraries Unlimited|isbn=978-1-56308-800-1|page=112}}

In 1915 the libraries consisted of a reference library, 24 lending libraries, a foreign library, the Henry Watson Music Library and the Thomas Greenwood Library for Librarians. The number of volumes altogether exceeded half a million and the stock of the lending libraries was arranged according to the Dewey Decimal Classification. The library was housed in temporary buildings in Piccadilly on the site of the former Manchester Royal Infirmary. The Moss Side library contained special collections on Thomas de Quincey, Mrs. Gaskell and the Brontës and the foreign library was temporarily housed at the Cheetham branch. The Henry Watson Music Library contained 30,000 volumes and hundreds of thousands of pieces of music; the Thomas Greenwood Library for Librarians contained about 15,000 volumes.Axon, Ernest (1915) "The Manchester Public Libraries", in: McKechnie, H. M., ed. Manchester in Nineteen Hundred and Fifteen. Manchester: University Press; pp. 58–60 After the vacation of the first town hall in King Street the building was reused for the public lending library.

These include libraries in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Hulme, Withington and Didsbury. The Withington Library (1927), on Wilmslow Road, was designed by Henry Price.

In 1971 there were 20 branch libraries and services were provided by four mobile libraries or by caravans to a further 19 areas.Cotton, G. B. (1971) Public libraries in the North West; North Western Newsletter; Manchester: Library Association (North Western Branch), no. 116: Libraries in the North West, pp. 5–24 (p. 7)

The Central Library is closed from 2010 to 2013 for major refurbishment and expansion. During the closure its books are stored in a disused part of the Winsford salt mine. Some of its services will be available at a temporary location nearby.{{cite web|url=http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/500138/central_library/4580/central_library_temporary_closure/2|title=Central Library Temporary Closure|work=manchester.gov.uk|publisher=Manchester City Council|at=A new temporary library|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110925061441/http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/500138/central_library/4580/central_library_temporary_closure/2|archivedate=25 September 2011}} A new community library for the city centre on Deansgate has been provided.{{cite web|url=http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/500138/central_library/4580/central_library_temporary_closure|title=Central Library Temporary Closure|publisher=Manchester City Council|accessdate=30 April 2010|work=manchester.gov.uk|at=Important information about Central Library|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100515210309/http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/500138/central_library/4580/central_library_temporary_closure|archivedate=15 May 2010}} The community library occupies Elliott House (between Lloyd Street and Jackson's Row).

• Edward Edwards, 1850–1858
• Robert Wilson Smiles, 1858–1864
• Andrea Crestadoro, 1864–1879
• Charles W. Sutton, 1879–1920
• L. Stanley Jast, 1920–1931
• Charles Nowell 1932–1954
• D. I. Colley, 1955–1974{{cite web|url=http://www.dswebhosting.info/Manchester/dserve.exe?dsqIni%3DDserve.ini%26dsqApp%3DSite11%26dsqDb%3DCatalog%26dsqCmd%3Dshow.tcl%26dsqSearch%3D%28RefNo%3D%3D%27GB127.M740%2F2%2F8%27%29 |title=Greater Manchester Pastfinder |accessdate=2013-12-25 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131226040913/http://www.dswebhosting.info/Manchester/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Site11&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=%28RefNo%3D%3D%27GB127.M740%2F2%2F8%27%29 |archivedate=26 December 2013}}

Kenneth W King 1975 -

• David Owen, 1980-1998
• Paul Catcheside, 1998-2000
• Lis Phelan, 2000-2003
• Vicky Rosin MBE, 2003-2005

==Head of Libraries==

• Nicky Parker, 2005-2009
• Neil MacInnes OBE, 2010-2015

• Neil MacInnes OBE, 2015-

• Ernest Axon
• George Lovell
• K. W. King

{{Reflist}}

• Axon, William (1877) Handbook of the Public Libraries of Manchester and Salford. Manchester: Abel Heywood and Son; pp. 83–88, 99–112 (chapters: xiii: The Corporation Library at the Town Hall.--xvi-xvii: The Free Reference Library.--xviii: The Free Lending Libraries.)
• Credland, W. R. (1899) The Manchester Public Free Libraries: a history and description and guide to their contents and use. Manchester: Libraries Committee
• Jast, L. Stanley (1929) "The Manchester Public Libraries", in: The Book of Manchester and Salford. Manchester: George Falkner and Sons; pp. 169–75

• [http://www.manchester.gov.uk/libraries Manchester Library & Information Service] on the Manchester City Council website

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Category:Culture in Manchester

Category:Education in Manchester

Category:Libraries in Manchester