An exhibition to celebrate 90 years since Central Library opened and 10 years since its Transformation.

Manchester Central Library in St Peter’s Square was opened on the 17th of July 1934 by King George V and Queen Mary.  It followed previous library buildings at Campfield, King Street and Piccadilly.  In fact Manchester’s public library history goes back to 1852 and it was the country’s first rate supported public library service. 

In 2010 the library closed for major restoration work, a temporary library operating at Elliot House on Deansgate, and re-opened in March 2014.  The “new” library has been phenomenally successful attracting around 2 million visitors per year. 

Staff have put together an exhibition (Ground Floor of the library) to celebrate the 2 anniversaries.  It includes sections on previous buildings, the opening and importance of the 1934 building, Central  Library in books, transformation, library exhibitions/events, the library at work, the Library Theatre and memories of the public and staff.  There is material in cases, on boards and on digital screens.  We also have a timeline of the library in large images in our Oculus area (again on the Ground Floor). 

We are also still collecting memories of Central Library during the exhibition: you can either fill in a slip at the exhibition or e-mail your memories to archiveslocalstudies@manchester.gov.uk. These memories will be added to our Archives collections. 

The exhibition is on until the end of August.