Leith Library is one of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

's 28 freely-accessible libraries. It is a

category B listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

. located in

Leith Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith. The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...

, in the northern part of the city, at the foot of

Ferry Road Ferry Road is one of the major roads of Edinburgh, Scotland, deriving its name from being the road from Queensferry to Leith. It runs from the eastern end of Davidson's Mains village in the west, to Leith in the east, passing through Drylaw, ...

shortly before it meets

Great Junction Street Great Junction Street is a street in Leith, on the northern outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland. It runs southeast to northwest following approximately the southwestmost line of the old town walls around Leith. History The road was planned c.18 ...

and North Junction Street. The stone marking the first phase of construction was laid by the then Lord Provost, Alexander Stevenson in 1929. It was designed by

Bradshaw Gass & Hope Bradshaw Gass & Hope is an English architect, architectural practice founded in 1862 by Jonas James Bradshaw (–1912). It is Bolton's oldest architectural practice and has exhibited archive drawings in London and Manchester. The style "Bradshaw ...

and opened in 1932. The building suffered bomb damage in 1941 but was subsequently restored and re-opened in 1955. The library is currently open six days a week and, in addition to the collection of books, offers visitors computer access, a for-hire community room, public exhibition space, a knitting group and a weekly children's crafts class/workshop. Local-area MSP

Ben Macpherson Bennett William Macpherson is an Australian conductor who received a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2002 for his services to music as a conductor and choirmaster. Early life Macpherson was originally a student member of the Perth Unive ...

also hosts surgeries within the library, and the local registrar's office adjoins the main library building. To the building's rear is the

Leith Theatre Leith Theatre (also known as Leith Town Hall and alternatively, in 1975 and 1976, Citadel Theatre) is a theatre located on Ferry Road in Edinburgh, Scotland. It opened in 1932 and ceased operation in 1988. History of the building Leith Theatr ...

. As with all the City's libraries, Leith public library uses the

Library of Congress Classification The Library of Congress Classification (LCC) is a system of library classification developed by the Library of Congress in the United States, which can be used for shelving books in a library. LCC is mainly used by large research and academic li ...

system for its adult collection. As of 1974, Edinburgh is the only area in the UK where public libraries utilise the US classification scheme. Children's books, and some non-English works, are indexed using the

Dewey Decimal Classification The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) (pronounced ) colloquially known as the Dewey Decimal System, is a proprietary library classification system which allows new books to be added to a library in their appropriate location based on subject. ...

scheme.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Libraries in Edinburgh Library buildings completed in 1961 Category B listed buildings in Edinburgh Listed library buildings in Scotland Buildings and structures in Leith Libraries established in 1961 1961 establishments in Scotland