Central Library

The Central Library in Edinburgh was another public library that I loved visiting. I am still developing my professional goals, and after seeing some of these public libraries and their work to provide books to all people I feel inspired. The Central Library is working to develop their online library services. Their virtual library started less than a year ago. It serves the dual purpose of being an alternative that people can use from home 24/7, while also encouraging more people to come into the library. All of the e-services are being brought together in one place, including business information, family history, and community information. The e-books section will also be developed over the next few years. The community information website is Your Edinburgh, and is being designed to provide information that people want and need. It can be found here. Heath information, educational needs, and support group information are some of the services provided by this website. The organizations represented on the site have ownership of the information and are welcome to keep it up to date. The online image collection maintained by the Central Library is of international importance. It contains many important and early photographs, such as those of Robert Louis Stevenson and the construction of the Scott Monument.

Reader development is important at this library as well. They want to engage with readers, finding out what they know and what they like, and two-way communication with the readers is vital for this. Reading is the core of the library experience. In order to reach out to readers they have organized events such as author visits, which usually draw 150-200 people. Recently they did a “Crime in the City” crime fiction event, which is what they found out readers wanted through feedback. Book groups are a popular draw, and they provide online and face-to-face book discussions. In order to reach out to the community they visit retirement homes to read poetry, show pictures, and talk to residents to bring back pleasant memories. They also reach out to troubled kids, and author visits are often a way of accomplishing this. The amount of involvement that this library has with the community is wonderful!

The library’s mission in regards to special collections is again, preservation rather than conservation, but this library wants the books to be used, just kindly. Preservation is done offsite by conservators. Each time a decision must be made to determine why the book should be conserved. The library does monitor temperature and moisture conditions, because dramatic differences can be damaging to the books. The thick Victorian walls of the building generally keep the climate constant. Dust is another factor that can be damaging due to mites within the dust; therefore the books must be kept clean. Housing the books in acid-free boxes really helps.

After hearing about the library’s procedures we moved on to a tour of the library. We visited the music library, where we found that bands often put on live performances. I can’t imagine that in my public library! The children’s library was very open and friendly. We saw the fine arts library, the reference library, the Edinburgh department, and the Scottish department. I enjoyed seeing this library and hearing their goals and development projects. I would love to implement some of their ideas in my library in the future.