Leadhills and Libraries Matter

Category: Blog, Libraries Matter

The following is a guest blog provided by Dr. John Crawford. Chairman, Leadhills Heritage Trust.

I am the chairman of Leadhills Heritage Trust and our principal collection is the library of Leadhills Reading Society, Britain’s first and oldest subscription library, founded in 1741 and the world’s first library for working people. I have been trying to raise the profile of this historic collection and the 275th anniversary of the founding of the library on 23rd November last year seemed like a good opportunity.  With the help of CILIPS I contacted various media outlets and the result was quite gratifying, eleven reports including interviews with me on Reporting Scotland and Good Morning Scotland and articles in, among others, the Sunday Times, The Herald,  (five pages on the Saturday magazine).The National and a Times leader.

All the journalists i spoke to were not just interested in the past.  They saw in the endeavours of ordinary working people in setting up libraries for themselves not just something to be praised in itself  but an example to inform the present in a time when public library services are under threat as never before.

The message is clear. Our wonderful heritage of library activity is an opportunity to make the case for libraries anew. This is relevant not just for now but 2019 marks the centenary of Andrew Carnegie’s death and it will be a wonderful opportunity to look back on an era when libraries were being opened rather than closed and initiate a debate about the role of libraries in the 21st century.  If journalists think it is a good idea, so should we.