Acock Green library: its history
Acocks Green Library celebrated its 70th Birthday on 14th June
2002. It was the 25th library to be opened in Birmingham. In the
same year the Green was redesigned, so the library building and
the layout of the Green are contemporaneous. The library was designed
with an emphasis on light and ease of access. The modern Georgian
look was enhanced by the use of hand-made facing bricks, Grinshill
stone masonry, and terrazzo. The flooring is oak, and the shelves
too. However, the shelving contains elements of a previous era
of library design. Acocks Green was planned on the open access
principle, where the public could walk around the shelves and
look at the books before they made a choice. However, the hatch
in the screen separating the counter from the hallway, and the
door in the Magazine Room marked Private, reveal details of the
closed access model, where readers had to look at an Indicator
Board to see what was in, and chose solely on the basis of the
limited information there. So it appears that not all the thinking
was entirely up to date when the building was planned. The library
cost £14,000 to build, and the books cost £3,000.
Over 9,000 books were issued in the first week.
In any event, the oak screen between the Magazine Room and
adult lending area was removed after only a few years, around
1938, and the Magazine Room was incorporated into the lending
area, allowing more shelving for books to be brought in. However,
this was not made to the same standard as that in the rest of
the building, and was finally removed in 1994-5.
Below is a selection of photographs taken when the library
opened. We are grateful to Acocks Green Library for letting us
scan the photographs for this piece.
Crowds outside before the formal opening ceremony
A policeman holds the crowds back
The architect, J.F. Osborne, hands over the keys to
the Lord Mayor, Alderman J.B. Burman
The entrance hall
The Magazine Room
The Staff Enclosure
The Adult Lending Department
The Junior Department
When Acocks Green first opened, the service was provided until
9 p.m. including Saturday. The staff had no tea breaks. One constant
problem was the attempts by bookies to conduct their business
in the library. The staff pasted over or blacked out the racing
news in order to counter this unwanted use of the building. There
were complaints in the newspapers about betting in libraries.
In fact a separate room for newspaper readers had been provided,
across the hallway from the Magazine Room. Perhaps this was a
statement that readers of newspapers were not quite the same kinds
of people as those who read magazines!
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