Mitchell Library
Encyclopedia
The Mitchell Library is a large public library
Public library
A public library is a library that is accessible by the public and is generally funded from public sources and operated by civil servants. There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries...

 and centre of the public library system of Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

.

History

The library was established with a bequest from Stephen Mitchell, a wealthy tobacco manufacturer, whose company, Stephen Mitchell & Son
Stephen Mitchell & Son
Stephen Mitchell first established a tobacco manufacturing business in Linlithgow in Scotland in 1723.His great grandson, also Stephen Mitchell , was born in Linlithgow on 19 September 1789. On the death of his own father in 1820 Stephen continued the family business, transferring it in 1825 to...

, would become one of the constituent members of the Imperial Tobacco Company
Imperial Tobacco
Imperial Tobacco is a global tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, United Kingdom. It is the world’s fourth-largest cigarette company measured by market share , and the world's largest producer of cigars, fine-cut tobacco and tobacco papers...

. It contains the largest public reference library
Reference library
A reference library does not lend books and other items; instead, they must be read at the library itself. Typically such libraries are used for research purposes, for example at a university. See List of closed stack libraries...

 in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, with 1,213,000 volumes. While composed mainly of reference material it also has a substantial lending facility which began in 2005. The original North Street building with its distinctive copper dome surmounted a bronze statue by Thomas Clapperton, entitled Literature, often referred to as Minerva
Minerva
Minerva was the Roman goddess whom Romans from the 2nd century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic...

, the Roman goddess of wisdom, opened in 1911. The architectural competition for the library's design took place in 1906 and was won by William. B. Whitie. The Edwardian Baroque building is protected as a category B listed building.

The vast majority of the library's collection however is housed in the Extension Building, which was built between 1972 and 1980. Located to the west of the original building. It was originally known as the St Andrew's Halls, which were designed by James Sellars
James Sellars
James Sellars was a Scottish architect who was heavily inflenced by the work of Alexander Greek Thomson.He was one of the designers commissioned by the Saracen Foundry to work on a set of standard designs for a series of decorative iron works, for example railings, drinking fountains, bandstands,...

 and opened in 1877. It was Glasgow's pre-eminent venue for concerts and meetings at the time. It had a massive and striking classical facade and included a Grand Hall which could hold 4,500 people, and a large ballroom. The building was however gutted by fire in 1962, although the facade survived and was later incorporated into the extension of the Mitchell Library.

Services

The Library has recently undergone a major internal refurbishment, on the ground floor of the new extension creating an internal street running east to west. A stylish new cafe bar has been created with a large learning centre offering free Internet and Wifi access. A new popular lending library has also been created and a business lounge.

Containing five floors, access is free to both members and non-members. Non-members can, upon request, use PCs and the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 as well as printed reference materials.

The Mitchell Library also holds the Glasgow City Archives and collections which are considered to be one of the world’s best resources for researching family history and was used by Jeremy Paxman in the television series Who Do You Think You Are?.

Mitchell Theatre

The 1980 extension building incorporates the 418-seat Mitchell Theatre. The Mitchell Theatre complex also includes The Moir Hall.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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