Edit Carnegie's Priceless Gift
IT WAS a gift from the Scottish industrialist Andrew Carnegie and changed the lives of tens of thousands of people from Glasgow's impoverished east end.
For the residents of Parkhead, Carnegie's new public library gave them free access to newspapers and books and opened up a whole new world.
Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book and Bram Stoker's Dracula had all been published within the previous decade - but were rarely affordable to the working classes.
Carnegie's libraries changed all that and this year the stunning Parkhead Library on Tollcross Road has been celebrating its centenary.
A range of special events have been held at the library, including a meeting of staff past and present.
A lot has changed since its early days - when a special children's entrance ensured adults were kept separate from the "disturbing influence" of youngsters.
The library now is a thoroughly modern place, children and adults mix freely and the impact of modern technology is evident with computers and talking books as popular as the traditional reading and lending.
Glasgow's area co-ordinator for libraries, Stephen Finnie, says that 100 years on there is still a "buzz" about the Parkhead building.
"It is one of these long-standing communities in Glasgow where the people are proud of their heritage and we have encouraged them to contribute old photos to our historical collection, " he said.
"There are also a lot of Polish immigrants and people from other parts of eastern Europe. They are able to use our IT facilities and keep in touch with newspapers from their homelands."
The building was one of thousands of libraries provided by Carnegie - who moved to the United States from his native Dunfermline and made his fortune in the steel mills of Pennsylvania. It was built at a time when Parkhead was developing as a community and many fine new structures were being erected around Parkhead Cross.
The impressive Co-operative building went up in 1903, the baths and washhouse in 1905 and the library, designed by Inverness architect J R Rhind, in 1906.
It was followed, in 1908, by the Glasgow Savings Bank, designed by John Keppie, complete with embossed lettering and sculpted figures.
The street the library was built on was known at the time as Great Eastern Road and was only changed to Tollcross Road 20 years later.
THE area was always solidly working class and if you wanted to send your child to school you had to pay.
The Glasgow School Board introduced a scale of fees that ensured schooling was cheaper in poorer areas of the city.
Education was always seen as important and the building of the library was a boon to those who could not afford to buy the latest stories, periodicals or classic books.
Not only were children and adults separated, boys and girls also had their own separate reading rooms to avoid unnecessary distractions.
The library also charts the history of the area and the city and has more than fulfilled Carnegie's dream of providing opportunities for youngsters to read and learn.
But at the time not everyone was in favour of books and papers being borrowed rather than bought.
In a letter to the Glasgow Herald in September 1907 a Mr Gardner of Carstairs Junction wrote: "The best read men I meet. . . are those who furnish their own bookcases.
"Books are cheap and the purchasing capacity of the people, as shown by the extraordinary expenditure on sport and drink, is high."
But, thankfully, not everyone shared his opinion and Parkhead Library went on to become an institution in the area whose importance endures to this day.
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