Looking back with Ian Scott on the history of Falkirk's libraries

The building has played such an important part in my long life that I will be very upset to see it close however fine its successor turns out to be. Of course it is a very different place from the one I remember as a child - no computers back then and not much talking either!

Back in the 1830s Falkirk had several small libraries linked to churches and other organisations as well as a ‘subscription library’. Some had over a thousand books but their use was limited to subscribers. In 1880 the YMCA opened a new building in Newmarket Street and six years later Falkirk philanthropist Robert Dollar offered $5000 to stock a library provided it was freely available to ‘all classes and denominations’. The Dollar Free Library was the result with many books of an ‘improving’ nature aimed at helping to encourage people to behave themselves! It was a great success and in the first nine months of operation it issued well over 20,000 books to 1200 readers. Though it survived for nearly 20 years it was never able to match the demand.

Enter the wealthy Andrew Carnegie, who in 1887 offered £2500 towards a new building if the town put up an equal amount. His offer was accepted though the public were slow to put their hands in their pockets. In the end Andrew had to cough up nearly £6000! Maybe the canny bairns thought they had a library already and were reluctant to pay for a new one. Whatever the reason the final result was the familiar red sandstone building in Hope Street which was opened by Carnegie himself in 1902. Designed by Alexander Black it has a number of decorative features inside and out including a carved wooden coat of arms of Falkirk. George Chapman, the man in charge at the YMCA building, was appointed librarian and he served for 40 years followed by Taylor Brown, Mrs Chris Brown and Alex Howson taking us up to the modern era.

Back in those early days. Customers could not browse the shelves but searched through catalogues, identified the books and then consulted indicator boards to see if they were available. This continued until 1922 when open shelves of books became the normal method of display; the library I was brought up with in the 1950s looked pretty much as it had done before the war.

By the 1980s it was obvious that lack of space was limiting the service and the decision was taken to spend £1.5 million on an extension. Designed to match the old building it was opened in April 1993. In recent years the services offered to the community have increased with talks, presentations, special children’s events and much more all delivered in a welcoming and less forbidding atmosphere.

So what now for the much loved building? Whatever happens I hope it will have an educational purpose – a place for example where our children can come from school to learn about their local history and heritage. Maybe some of the objects held in the Museum store out of sight of the public might find a place there. And maybe a rehearsal space for our wonderful performing groups and a lecture room for public use. Now that would be a prize worth fighting for.