Dunfermline Carnegie Library

he Dunfermline Carnegie Library, the first Carnegie library in the world, opened on August 29, 1883. It was built in the domestic Tudor style. As the story goes, the opening day of the library every single book in the collection was checked out.

The library’s 59,000 item collection is mostly fiction, non-fiction, teen and children’s literature. In 1992 the library extended to incorporate a children’s room, a local history room and meeting space. The children’s room hosts craft event, rhyme times with toddlers and has a summer reading program for children ages 5 to 11 designed to encourage them to read during the summer months when school is out.

The Abbey Room is designated for special exhibits. During my visit the exhibit was called Pharaoh in the Fife where in replicas of Egyptian artifacts are on display. The library coordinates with local schools on these exhibitions.

The special collections has a room whose collection is devoted to the poet Robert Burns. This room is closed to the public except for special events. On display in this room is a Shakespeare 2nd folio.

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The local interest room is a very interesting part of the library. The books are organized by region so patrons can look for items based upon specific location. The public are welcome to donate photographs of the local area. The Morris Allan collection is a special collection of glass negatives from a local photographer. All the photographs in the library have been mounted on card and then placed in mylar slips. The library has a collection of maps including hand drawn maps of the local area.

There is a section of the room devoted to the history of Dunfermline in the 20th century. The library has nearly every copy of the local publications either in print or on microfiche. The public is free to propose an exhibit for this room as well. During my visit the exhibition was about a local football player who played for Liverpool before the WWII.

This is a lovely library which places much of its efforts into cultivating a sense of community in Dunfermline.

*The amazing display cap above is by Jessica Hische, an amazing designer I came across in my perpetual search for awesome design and typography. The letter comes from her Daily Drop Cap project.