h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

2,507 libraries!
That's a lotta libraries.

>>..the total was something like $56 million back then. <<

Hard to translate values over an inflationary century
but he seems to be well on par with the modern scale
of charitable works by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.
A truly worthy effort that has obviously had an impact.

I remain dumbfounded that I had no idea of his magnitude
and I wouldn't know where to start looking to see whether
NS ever made application or even considered it.


~jwf~

I'd love to see this Entry prefaced by some background into the history of public library funding in general, the rise of public libraries world wide in this period, maybe linked to a rise in general levels of literacy too. No point having libraries if people are too poor to afford education, etc.

All I know about the local one to me, (Fenton) in the Potteries, was that it was the only town out of six, that couldn't raise the funds itself to have a library. All the other towns had libraries.

Happy Nerd: your query
>>Did Nova Scotia submit an application for Carnegie library building funds? <<
raises something that hadn't occurred to me before.
- 56million, eh?
Just had a bit of a search and, without claiming any real accuracy, it seems that (US) prices have doubled every 20 years - so, wet finger in the air - 5 doublings (compounded) gives something like 20 times: todays figure (very approx [any complaints?])
Over 1 billion.
Phew!

I'd heard of the Carnegie libraries of course, but actually know little - "The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones"



Interesting Lanzababy. Then again, your comment
>>... No point having libraries if people are too poor to afford education, etc.<<
poses a little question mark of its own

Yes, not being a historian, I was wondering if the rise of public 'free' libraries is linked to the general rise in compulsory or free education for all.

My favorite library sign of all time is:

Libraries will get you through times of no money
Far more effectively
Than money will get you through times of no libraries.

-Above the circulation desk at the US Air Force Base library in New Jersey.

Lanza, over here at least, powerful and wealthy industrialists such as Carnegie were willing to invest in both education and libraries because they were the beneficiaries of a literate workforce.

We need a few more of the old-fashioned kind of 1%ers. This new breed of 1%ers are all about gutting education and closing libraries.

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/

>Happy Nerd: your query
>>>Did Nova Scotia submit an application for Carnegie library building funds? <<
>raises something that hadn't occurred to me before.

To put it in set theoretic terms, the elements of the set of community organizations which received funding for a Carnegie library were also elements of the set of applicants for a library building/expansion grant through the Carnegie Corporation or Carnegie Foundation.

Yes, HN, sounds reasonable. After all, why would anyone just go out and give money away, even for a library, if some interest hadn't been shown.
It's just that that aspect hadn't occurred to me.

and, Lanzababy, it has come to mind (tritely?) 'Build it and they will come'.


Rod

I think Carnegie would be astounded at modern libraries and rather pleased to see his legacy still in use.

And frankly I think the slogan for everyone in the UK in regards to libraries should be 'Use it or Lose it'.

Thankfully ours has stayed open but only because of volunteers.

I can't help but think that closing libraries is only slightly better than censorship of the press and burning books - but having a library near you and not using it is a terrible, terrible tragedy.

Growing up on the Island, libraries were exciting places. Sandown Library (Carnegie) also had the Dinosaur Museum. Cowes Library, on the same road as my Granddad's house, hosted the Maritime Museum. The Lord Louis Mountbatten Library in Newport had a gallery, history museum and the back room was where the Vectis Astronomical Society met each month.

Libraries aren't just empty buildings containing books - they can be at the heart of a community.

<BB<

Very rough draft can be seen here: A87764610

This is an article which I think will benefit from a long gestation period. The more information and personal experiences about Carnegie libraries that can be shared, the better. Although it is possible to write about the libraries by just listing them, I'm not going to do that. I hope that this article will play to h2g2's strengths - we are a community with people from all around the world. The Carnegie libraries are something which people from different backgrounds and experiences can have in common.

I want to know more information than a list can provide. What these buildings looked like, where they were in relation to town, were they imposing buildings or friendly places? Are they still there? Did you go often as a child? What was access like? Did they have a smell of dusty books and reverberate with the sound of stamping books? Did your first girlfriend have a part-time job in a Carnegie Library? What did the library mean to you?

Check to see what has been written about the library near you, and please let me know your additions and corrections.

<BB<

There is one in Belgium, in Leuven, quite near me, but it is a university library and not open to curious strangers.

It replaces the previous one which was damaged in WWI.

sprout

Good start, Bluebottle.

There's enough tons of stuff ing under the surface there for a year's worth of entries.

I'd forgotten how enjoyable it can be to work on a collaborative entry. We used to do it all the time.

I was perusing Andrew Carnegie's autobiography when in the library at lunchtime.

Can you guess where he, one of history's wealthiest men ever, spent his honeymoon?



















The Isle of Wight

<BB<

The skinflint...

Queen Victoria was quite fond of the Isle too, I believe. Regularly used to holiday there.


Geggs

I know Neston Library quite well from my youth - there weren't many steps to the front door, but there was at least one (which is now ramped) and the door is distinctive.

http://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/idoc.ashx?docid=ec7a056d-48da-4480-acfc-da7ece68c0b8&version=-1

In my youth, I recall that the entrance was on a different side of the building, and the distinctive door wasn't used. The Children's Library was in a different wing to the Adult's section, and it was also down several steps. After the refurbishments, about 6 or 7 years ago, the library was somehow changed to be all on one level and so fully wheelchair accessible, and the main door was brought back into use.

We've got one in Reims.
I don't know anything about it, though.
But they give guided tours every September (Heritage Open Days, I think it's called in English), so I guess I could work on it.