Edinburgh Central Library

Our bus ride from England to Scotland started early in the morning and contained myriad accents. Amidst the stream of background educational commentary, I managed to get in 50 pages of a book that Sam Harris recommended on his website. I snatched up Aaronovitch's Voodoo Histories at a rest stop. The first chapter dealt with the history of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the famous Russian forgery of the Jewish plan for world domination that continues to be widely read and accepted in parts of the Middle East. This is the book I turned to when I realized our homebase in Dalkeith was not safe enough for nightlife outside my locked hotel room.

We checked out several book and information havens in Scotland. For too long Edinburgh did not have a free public library. The town had a lackadaisical attitude about fulfilling the Public Library Act. They already had subsciption libraries, so the expense was deemed a taxpayer burden. Andrew Carnegie's 1886 donation of 25,000 pounds inspired the Town Council to approve the building of the Edinburgh Central Library. It opened to the public in 1890.

Our tour was thorough, starting with 3 presentations. Alison talked about the ways in which they are working to improve their virtual library. You can read the library's blog here. Staff members go so far as to survey Twitter for people's compliments and complaints. Karen told us a little about their special collections, which span the 15th century to present day. The biggest treat for me was the presentation on reader development. Annie and Colm try to set up at least 1 author event a month. The bring in literary fiction writers, well known Scottish writers, and emergent writers. Crime is the highest circulating genre at the Barbican in London. This trend is no different at Edinburgh Central Library. In March, they built off this collective passion and did a successful program of events called Crime in the City.

Photo courtesy of the Central Library.