Barbican Library

Today was an adventure as the weather was windy, rainy and cold.   The Library that was visited was the Barbican Library that was located in the City of London.  Yes, there is a city within a city!   The Barbican Library was not too difficult to get to however when one arrives the Library does not look like an ordinary one at all.  The building that the Library is housed in is made out of concrete.  It is very thick concrete, as well.  There is a theatre, restaurant and a coffee bar as well near the library.

The Barbican Library was established in 1982, it is one of three libraries within the City of London and it is the largest.  The other two are the Shoe Lane Library and the Artizan Street Library.  All three librarians work together and if one checks out a book from Shoe Lane they can return it to the Barbican or even to the Artizan Street location.

The librarian expressed the concern of effectively using the space within the library which I understood completely.  The library had two exhibits on display that were really fascinating - Into the Unknown and London History.  Another collection that caught my attention was the Crime Collection, which the Manchester Polytechnic  had developed as a resource but did not have a place to store the collection and the Barbican stepped in and has the collection where one can check out a crime book to read.  The Barbican had another aspect that was fascinating, it had the largest music library in London.  The really neat aspect of the library was that there was two pianos available that a patron could play while hearing headphones and practice.  That was really innovative!