Airdrie Public Library is a

public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...

in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The library has been housed in a number of buildings since its founding.

History of the two Carnegie library buildings and the observatory

ASTRA - Airdrie Library Building Anderson Street roof dome site

The history of the library dates back to the 1850s when the town adopted the

Public Libraries Act Public Libraries Act is a stock short title used in the United Kingdom for legislation ("Acts of Parliament") relating to public libraries. List * The Public Libraries Act 1850 (13 & 14 Vict c 65) * The Public Libraries (Ireland) Act 1855 (18 & ...

. Its first home was a room in the town hall, or Town House as it was called. From 1860 it moved a number of times until the opening of its current home in 1925. There have been two buildings purpose built for the library. The first was opened in 1894 by a public subscription of more than £1000 and a £1000 donation from

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

(the Scottish born philanthropist) on Anderson Street, today’
Airdrie Arts Centre
MP Sir John Wilson gave a further £1000 to write off accompanying debt. Unusually, the library has shared a common history with an observatory.

Airdrie Public Observatory Airdrie Public Observatory (55° 51’ 56” N, 3° 58’ 58” W) is a fully operational, historic astronomical observatory, which is part of the library building in the town of Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. There are only four public ob ...

was founded in this building in 1896. The 1894 building proved too small. The second purpose-built, and current, building was designed by JM Arthur, and opened on 25 September 1925, funded by

Airdrie Savings Bank Airdrie Savings Bank was a small commercial bank operation in the Lanarkshire area of Scotland. It ran three branches throughout the area, with its head office in Airdrie at the time of the announcement of its closure. Total assets of the bank a ...

and a second Carnegie grant. The local newspaper, the Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser had this to say the next day; "''Although not quite finished the new Library building in Wellwynde Street was sufficiently far advanced towards completion to allow the opening ceremony to take place yesterday afternoon''". The observatory moved along with the library, a purpose-built observatory being built on the library roof and a brass

refracting telescope A refracting telescope (also called a refractor) is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens (optics), lens as its objective (optics), objective to form an image (also referred to a dioptrics, dioptric telescope). The refracting telescope d ...

was obtained by the observatory curator Ex- Baillie James Lewis for the sum of £500. The original Dr Reid telescope was also brought from the old observatory.

Covenanters' flag

In 1920, the library was gifted a Covenanters' flag, carried in the Battle of Bothwell Bridge, by John Main, Laird of Ballochney. The flag suffered degradation due to light exposure, but underwent restoration, completed in 2002, and was re-displayed.

Chronology

1853

In August the Public Libraries Act (Scotland) was passed, and in November Airdrie was the first Scottish town to adopt it, beating

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...

into second place by 13 years.

1856

A quantity of books were obtained for the sum of £40 from the

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 120,000 member ...

and the Library opened in the clerks office in the Town House, now known as the Town Clock.

1892

had promised in a letter to Mr Thomas Jeffrey of

an amount of money equaling £1,000 (being half of the money required to build a new library) so long as a piece of land was acquired and the other half of the money was raised locally. On receiving this guarantee, a public appeal was launched on 13 June 1892 for funds, and by October 1892 more than £1,000 had been raised. With more than £2,000, plans were drawn up to build the new Library on Anderson Street.

1894

The new library was opened and MP Sir John Wilson wrote off some accompanying debt to the amount of £1,000 which allowed the new library to operate debt free from then on.

1896

28 April Airdrie Public Observatory

Dr. Thomas Reid, an eminent Glasgow

oculist Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a medic ...

, donated a brass-bodied,

to the town, and it was housed in the library. He also donated the sum of £35 to convert a top-floor room, where a dome was built on the roof of the building for it. Thus founding

. Robert Dunlop was the first Honorary Curator, followed shortly by Mr Peter Scotland.

1925

25 September

A new library was built near the first purpose built library with financial assistance from

and a second grant from the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust. A new purpose-built observatory was built on the library roof. It is currently curated by Airdrie Astronomical Association (AAA)

References

External Source

Official Airdrie Library Website
{{Authority control Carnegie libraries in Scotland Buildings and structures in North Lanarkshire Tourist attractions in North Lanarkshire 1850s establishments in Scotland Airdrie, North Lanarkshire Library buildings completed in 1894 Library buildings completed in 1925