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Libraries : My First Visit To A Library.

oldMohawk

oldMohawk

gone but not forgotten
Reading on the forum about the city centre libraries reminds me of when I first joined the Perry Common Library as a young child probably just after the end of WW2. I remember it was somewhat forbidding inside with polished wooden floors, the musty smell of books, rather severe looking librarians, notices about quietness, and warnings about fines if books were not returned on time. With the help of mum I enrolled and was given four tickets allowing me to borrow four books of which two had to be non-fiction.

One of the non-fiction books borrowed on that first visit was about the solar system and I remember reading that light took eight minutes to reach us from the sun and many other facts leading to my lifelong interest in astronomy.

The other book was about rockets and jet engines but there was still some secrecy at the time so not much detail but enough to make me curious. The RAF had started flying Meteor and Vampire jets and having looked up at them flying over I was very interested in how they worked.

I don't visit Birmingham libraries these days but still read lots of books, a habit started from that first library visit.
 
I remember going to my first library, Aston Cross about the end of the war, we were not allowed to select books but tell a grumpy librarian what subject we were interested in and she would fetch half a dozen and told you to select one - hardly encouraging children to use the library !!! Eric
 
I was a Perry Common library goer too Phil. I don't remember exactly my first visit, but it would have been with my dad in the late 1950s. Although we lived nearer to Kingstanding library we rarely went to that one, it was modern and less serious looking. We (well my dad really) much preferred Perry Common. Yes it was a very serious matter visiting the library. I loved the oak library shelves and fittings. And in the winter it was always warm in there, with efficient radiators. I found I could lose myself amongst the shelving. I think there were a couple of rooms off the main library, one was a reading room with newspapers the other I think was a work room. All the windows were high up, you couldn't see into the other rooms very easily.

There was a clear distinction between 'in' for returning books (to the left as you entered) and 'out' where you borrowed books. My dad used to regularly borrow engineering magazines from there. There were piles of them stacked by the radiator near the workroom. It must have saved him a fair bit of cash.

Junior tickets I think we're green and adult tickets might have been grey. I loved that system too where the card from the book was slipped into your ticket and that was filed away. The label was stamped. You couldn't phone up in those days to extend the borrowing time, you always had to personally go back to the library.

When I was older I loved browsing the index cards - and still would if there were any left! Sometimes I went in for a specific book, especially if I needed it for homework. More often than not it was stocked by the library.

Viv.
 
my first library trip was to spring hill library...easy to get there..just jumped the no 8 from nursery road...i believe it is still open which is rare these days

lyn
 
I forget too much of my early years. I couldn't say for sure but I probably visited the library before I came to Birmingham. Once I came here, the local library would have been Central or Moseley road (Balsall Heath). Considering my mother's attitude to Moseley road (and most of the streets between us and there, I would suppose I was taken to the Central at regular intervals. What little memory I have is of something much larger than Moseley Road. I don't remember having to ask for books at the counter but I suppose that was gone by the 60s. The only cards I remember were that pale brown colour. I also know that I got books from other places before then. I vaguely remember being taken to second hand bookshops by my dad - possibly in Croydon/London before we moved or maybe in Birmingham after.
 
My memory tells me that from about age 7 I was using both Sparkhill and Moseley Rd. libraries which seems a bit odd.At about 10 I also joined The Octagon Library on Stratford Rd. This must have been a paying library,a penny or twopence and I think it was upstairs over a shop. Mom was a member there and they seemed to only stock adult fiction and I only remember taking out a book set in a Viking story.
I later also joined The Book Club where they mailed you a couple of books and you sent them payment for what you kept.
When I read this I wonder how I also seem to have lead a normal live as well.
Like oldmohawk I am still a keen reader, still use a public library plus my Kindle.
Cheers Tim
 
As I remember it, you had to belong to a particular library to take books out, so you'd have a set of cards for the closest libraries and the Central library. The local ones didn't have that many books but they seemed to hold on to them longer and there'd be a different selection in each local library. There'd also be the issue of where your mum did her shopping that week. You'd tag along and go into whatever library was there (or maybe just get dumped in there while she bought the weekly shopping). I daresay there were some families that always used the same place but some would go different places to buy different stuff. In my case, I would also have had tickets for Kings Heath library once I was in secondary school because that was the closest to school.
 
My first library would have been at Sparkhill. Glad to see that it is still there. The Hall Green Public Library did not open until 1962. I remember that I read all the "Just William", "Billy Bunter", "Famous Five" books, together with some Westerns. There was an Octagon Library on Hall Green Parade, Stratford Road and it was at the back of Boots the Chemist. I didn't use it very much. Dave.
 
My first library was Birchfield Road in Perry Barr which no longer exists.
I can't remember my first visit but my mother would have taken me, I always loved books and reading.

I do remember being taken there with my class from Junior school, we were shown how to search for books using the reference cards in the filing system - all on the computer now of course!
 
My first library was in Kings Heath. I remember how grown up I felt when I was presented with my library card. I seem to remember there was a little pocket on the inside of the cover for the card to fit into but how the system worked has faded from my memory !
 
I joined Shirley library when I was about 6 or 7. I remember the card system. I think your handed in your ticket (like a pocket) and a card from the book was placed inside it. These were placed in boxes in order of the book) can't Bremen if it was a number or the title or even the author). When you took the book back the librarian went through the cards to find your ticket and replaced the card in the book.

Janice
 
Essential for a library visit, a library ticket. Not a Birmingham one, but similar to those I remember. Made of thin card and in green for juniors and grey/beige for adults. Or was it the other way around? Not too sure. Viv.

image.jpeg
 
I was a member of Yardley Wood library in School Road....as a working class kid from Warstock it literally changed my life ....forever grateful to the founders of our library system...we can't let it vanish without trace.
 
Hi Dave. Yes it's Sparkhill Library. Didn't realise the Octagon libraries were a separate organisation. Or were they organised and funded by local authorities? I've amended the image title.

Phil - the junior library looks so very familiar. I thought after I mentioned that the windows throughout were high up but afterwards thought it was because I was small at the time. But no, they were high up! The aerial view of the adult section looks strange, down below it just seemed (to me at the time) like lots of little alcoves surrounded by oak wood. If I've remembered the layout correctly the photographer took the junior room photograph standing near to the 'out' counter where you borrowed books and had them date stamped. At the very left-hand edge of the aerial view is where the magazines for borrowing were stored. On that side you could access the newspaper reading room and another room (possibly a work room). I remember that the adult shelving often had an empty shelf at the very top of each shelving unit (well in the 1950s). Wondering if that was because that shelf was hard to reach.

Don't renember any plants in the library. Viv.
 
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I have never heard of Octagon Libraries and cannot find any trace on Google. However I do remember when Boots had libraries over their shops. I think this dated back to philanthropic ideas of the founder of Boots. I never used Boots nor did any of my familily as far as I am aware but I do remember seeing some of their books and they always had a rivet at the bottom of the spine. I never knew why.

Having been brought up just outside the city boundary my main library was Bleakhouse Road, Warley (Borough of Oldbury). Because my family encouraged reading I was borrowing books on my aunt's tickets before I was old enough (aged 8) to have a ticket in my own right. Oldbury library tickets were accepted by Smethwick so as I got older I made expeditions to borrow books from Thimblemill Library (County Borough of Smethwick). We always took our library tickets on holiday so were able to borrow books from the local libraries at the seaside.
 
What a lovely piece of library history David and Dave. First I've ever heard of these libraries. The one photo looks to have a very luxurious room! Viv.
 
My first library was at the top end of Witton rd what a building it has a lot to answer for with my love of books plus we went there once a week with the school i still go there most evenings i be about 9 on my own we lived a few doors down oh yea silence was golden??
 
Re; photos in #13 - that is not the Shirley library I meant. I was referring to the one over the boundary into Solihull - it was opposite St James Church in Shirley.

Janice
 
Yes Janice thanks, think I mixed it up with the council building. This is the Church St library, before the service was moved to the modern premises at Parkgate. Hope I've got the right one this time. If so it was a very typical 1930s design by the look of it. Do you know if this old library has been demolished? Viv.

image.jpeg
 
Hi All,

I cannot remember my first visit to a library but it must have been Green Lane, Small Heath over 80 years ago. I do remember that when I discovered my first William book I was never out of the library and in a short while I had read them all. I think I was in love with Violet Elizabeth although she cwied and cwied all day long.

Old Boy
 
One book I borrowed not long after I had joined was 'Worzel Gummidge' and the fun John and Susan had with him on Scatterbrook Farm although he often got them into trouble ... old memories in the corners of my mind !
 
pjmburns said:
Re; photos in #13 - that is not the Shirley library I meant. I was referring to the one over the boundary into Solihull - it was opposite St James Church in Shirley.

Janice
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That would be the first library I visited and from where I was able to borrow books. It was a nice friendly place but as a junior you were restricted in choice of book you could borrow. I am sure my card and wallet were issued by Warwickshire CC as Solihull did not become a borough until 1952 a year before I moved to Devon.
I often went into the famous Spring Hill library in Ladywood, but not being resident in the city I was only allowed to use the reference section. and not borrow books. That did not bother me, however, as there was always something interesting to read and being naturally inquisitive to watch how another, quite different type of community to mine, went about their day. Suffice to say that I found the city often more interesting than rural places. Now of course it is exactly the opposite and has been for quite a long while.
 
One of my earliest borrowed books was the Tailor of Gloucester by Beatrice Potter. Love the small child-sized book and the drawings. Still do! I would most certainly have borrowed Noddy books too as I was a big fan, although I don't remember which titles. I also remember borrowing the Rev Awdry books (pre-Thomas the Tank Engine) books. Again I loved the small child-size book and the way the book opened, unlike the traditional sized book. Again, I thought the images were magical. Then I progressed - predictably - to the Famous Five books. Nothing like having your own island and a rowing boat to have adventures in !! Eventually got to the grown up stuff of the Brontes and Jane Austen. But I also had a very serious phase of only borrowing non-fiction, probably influenced by school and exams. Pity really because I stopped reading for pleasure and fiction for a long time. But since returned to it.

Thinking about all these books I borrowed has made me realise we never had many books at home. No bookshelves even. The only 'bought' books I had were given at Christmas which included Rupert the Bear Annuals, a set of junior encyclopaedia and the Bible ! Slightly restricted diet. Thank goodness for libraries. Viv.
 
As I remember things all of the non-fiction was in reference and not available to borrow but I've heard different things at different times. Is this something that has changed over time or did it just depend on what library you used?
 
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