| AdminHistory | Prior to the involvement of the Town Council in 1860, libraries within Birmingham were in private hands, though some did provide public access, albeit at a cost or through subscription. For instance, a free library was established in 1733 through the will of Reverend Higgs, though it catered only for Anglican clergy and other privileged people. Books were 'hired out' by one Thomas Warren in 1729, and a subscription library was in certainly in existence by 1751, and run by William Hutton, a bookseller and historian based in Bull Street. There were a number of others that followed, with that of John Lowe charging an annual subscription of between 12s and 1½ guineas in 1776. The biggest advance was made in 1779, when the Birmingham Library was founded by subscription. Whilst the number of subscribers rose steadily, the number of volumes housed in the library grew from 900 to some 16,000 between 1794 and 1818.
Further, a library was maintained by the Birmingham and Midlands Institute, founded in 1854. This organisation was successful as it appealed to both the middle and working class on a broad base of subjects, and was able to attract to its collection other private collections, like that of John Lee and those from other institutions, now defunct, such as the Mechanical Institute and the People's Instruction Society.
It took ten years for the Council to even start to implement Ewart's Museums and Libraries Act, 1850, mainly due to the fact that despite allowing Councils to levy a halfpenny rate (later increased in 1855 to a penny) to provide buildings, the cost of books was not included. In 1860, the Council established a Free Libraries and Museums Committee, though the 'Museums' aspect in the title was dropped somewhat unofficially within a year or two, to compile a report on the subject of free libraries and present it to the main Council committee.
The committee recommended that a Libraries Department be formed under and a Chief Librarian be appointed; and the City was divided into Central District, with a reference library and a lending library, and a Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western District, each with its own branch library. Within a year, the first of these branch libraries was opened on Constitution Hill and by 1864, followed by another at Adderley Park. The Deritend Branch Library was opened in 1866 and the last of the branch libraries, that at Gosta Green opened just after. The committee looked after staffing issues, stock (including manuscripts and archives) and building issues, accounts, public lectures, rules and regulations, as well as the fledgling Museum and Art Gallery.
Work commenced on the Central Reference Library and the Central Lending Library in 1862, with the Lending Library opening in Ratcliffe Place, in 1865 and the Reference Library in 1866. The Lending Library also housed some of the City's Art collection for a while, before it was moved to the newly acquired Aston Hall. The Reference Library was intended from the start to represent every phase of human thought and every creed. Further, it should house rare and costly books out of reach to individuals and also became home to the Shakespeare Memorial Library and the Staunton Collection until the Library was burnt down in 1879. A new Central Reference and Lending Library was built and opened in 1882.
The Birmingham Corporation Act, 1883, had a significant impact upon libraries in Birmingham, removing the penny rate (now 3½d) and so allowing further libraries and stock to be purchased. Bloomsbury Library (the oldest building still in use as a library) was opened in June 1892; Harborne was opened as a library later that year; Spring Hill in 1893, and Balsall Heath in 1896. As a result of the 1911 City Extension Act, the number of libraries rose to 21. These libraries offered not only access to books, those considered to be of permanent and of standard interest, but also to newspapers and provided separate facilities for juveniles.
In 1920 the Free Libraries Committee changed its name to the Public Libraries Committee, but its functions generally remained the same, with the addition of being granted permission to set up a commercial library. Commercial libraries were successful in Glasgow and Liverpool, and were aimed at businessmen, as they contained trade directories and other such useful reference material. The committee also immediately investigated the role of libraries in the education of children, advocating better facilities to promote 'self development in an atmosphere of freedom', and closer links with teachers. By 1921, the libraries were also adopting the open access system, rather than relying upon a request to a librarian, which speeded up the process and ensured a constant growth in the use of the service.
The number of branch libraries continued to grow, with land purchased for Ward End Library in 1924, so by 1950, there were 28 branch libraries and new specialist collections were also being added, such as the Technical Library, also opened in 1924. Further, by July 1929 plans were made for a full Council catalogue of holdings and the purchase of a motor vehicle, thus allowing inter-library lending for the first time.
In November, 1934, with the appointment of the annual committee a new minute sequence commences, most likely for administrative purposes, as there appears to be no change of function. In 1938, the committee sought to replace the Central Library with a new building as it was outmoded and too small, but while the Council agreed, progress was halted by the outbreak of the Second World War, and the third Central Library was not opened until January 1974, after which the old Central Library in Ratcliffe Place was demolished.
The 1950s and 1960s saw a further expansion of the service. Firstly, this was reflected quite obviously in the number of local branch libraries, as well as major improvements, extensions and rebuilds of existing premises. However, there were less noticeable expansions. In 1954, recognising the need, the Library Department also opened a small section in the Central Library comprised of books in Indian Languages for the first time and this was followed in 1960 with a library service for the prison at Winson Green. In October, 1965, the committee also launched a Gramophone Record Library service and in 1968, it took over the running of the Law Library at the Victoria Courts.
The committee took its role of 'public literary censor' very seriously, and after the High Court decided to allow D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover to be considered fit reading in 1960, the committee's opinion was split, but ultimately did allow the libraries to stock the book on the open shelves, though nobody under the age of 16 could borrow it. In June 1968, the Public Libraries Committee was merged with the Museums and Art Gallery Committee (see BCC/1/DG Libraries and Museums Committee). |