Manchester Central Library Is Back: Gallery

Confidentials 21 March 2014

THE RE-OPENING of Manchester Central Library will deliver a runaway success. This is the most important cultural re-opening - with due respect to theatres, galleries and museums - for decades.

'Knowledge is power' was Central Library's opening motto in 1934. That has always been true. This will be a good place to tool up.

Libraries are different.

They are neither commercial spaces like shopping centres nor ones with a specific cultural purpose such as theatres, galleries or museums - no matter how much the latter attempt to diversify. Nor are they religious buildings, but rather the ultimate humanist space. Places for people regardless of creed and colour.

Central Library

Libraries are also a still point in the city, a pause, a moment of reflection where the conversation can move beyond the mundane. This means of course that alongside thinking big thoughts they promote flirting. All that learning under one roof is electric, love is in the air - as countless Mancunians will tell you about Central Library.

The way designers, Ryder Architects, have lightened, lifted and calmed an eighty year old interior that had become cluttered since first designed by E Vincent Harris is a marvel. With extra access and spectacular circulation systems including a superb new grand staircase and lift system (can people remember how bad the previous lift was?) the whole building encapsulates civic pride following a hefty £50m revamp.

Meeting Room

Manchester City Council anticipates around two million visitors a year. Given the scale of this building, its location, its beauty, its collections this seems more than manageable.

'Knowledge is power' was Central Library's opening motto in 1934. That has always been true. This will be a good place to tool up.

"I want this to be Manchester's Living Room," says Neil MacInnes, head of Manchester's library service. "I want people to come and read here, see performances, meet up with people, enjoy it any way they can."

He doesn't have to worry.

It's built. They will come.

Stretford Grammar School enjoying a visit to the archive section

The facilities include, in the council's own words:

A new Media Lounge, equipped with Apple Mac computers including creative software for would-be filmmakers, designers and gamers. Central Library offers superfast broadband throughout and has almost 200 computers for public use.

The Archives+ Centre, a destination of national and international significance for anyone interested in local or family history, bringing together an array of archives under one roof. Interactive interpretations and viewing stations for film archives will bring history alive.

Opening day

This includes the North West’s first BFI Mediatheque where visitors can enjoy a wealth of film and TV for free, including a special collection devoted to Manchester and the region on film. BFI Mediatheques offer a window on the collections of the BFI National Archive, the most significant collection of film and television in the world, allowing unprecedented access to our moving image heritage. Most of the titles are not available on DVD or online. Visitors can watch as much or as little as they like: sit back and enjoy an entire feature film, take a look at fondly-remembered television shows, use the database to search for favourite subjects or discover unexpected delights among the 2,500+ available titles.

The Children's Library, is a 'Secret Garden' waiting to be discovered. Themed on the classic book by local author Frances Hodgson Burnett, it has been transformed to create an exciting hive of activity for children to enjoy. Digital interactive screens and interactive floor projections are some of the new technologies being used to entice an inquisitive younger audience into the library - with bees, the Manchester emblem, among the insects that little ones will be able to spot in the 'undergrowth' projected onto the digital wall.

Main Reading Room

The Business Library, one of only six Business and Intellectual Property Centres in England and a place where would-be inventors and entrepreneurs can access a wealth of information and one-to-one support from business advisers and even patent attorneys.

City Library, a new lending library on the lower ground floor providing an extra 2,000 sq metres of library space.

More than 5000 people visited the library for the public reopening on Saturday 22 March.

Central Library is open Monday to Thursday 9am–8pm, Friday and Saturday 9am–5pm. Sunday, oddly, it is closed.

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Ceiling in the Shakespeare Hall