The juvenile reading rooms in Kingston District Library on Paisley Road, 1907. The glass screen across in the middle of the room divided the boys' reading room in the foreground from the girls' reading room beyond. The attendant was able to supervise both areas from his central position.
Note the list of "daily conduct rules" on the wall: any breach would be followed by instant ejection. Children's areas were kept apart from adult areas in early libraries, often with a separate entrance. In Kingston's case, the juvenile reading rooms were on the upper floor.
Kingston was the first Carnegie library to be opened in the city, in 1904. The building in Paisley Road was shared with Kingston Halls and the local police station. At the opening ceremony, Lord Provost Sir John Ure Primrose made an eloquent defence of the Corporation's policy of supporting public libraries from the rates. He insisted that libraries put the means of manual and intellectual advancement within the reach of ordinary Glaswegians, and provided relatively cheap facilities for the stimulation of youthful minds. "We are citizens of no mean city," he declared.
Reference: D-LB
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
children, Kingston District Library, Kingston Halls, libraries, library attendants, Lord Provosts, No mean city, rates, reading rooms
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