| Belfast Central Library | |
|---|---|
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| Type | Public Library |
| Established | 1888 |
| Location | Royal Avenue, Belfast |
| Collection | |
| Items collected | books, journals, newspapers, magazines, maps, sound and music recordings and sheet music |
| Website | www.ni-libraries.net/libraries/belb/belfast-central-library/ |
Belfast Central Library is a public library in Royal Avenue, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Opened in 1888, it was one of the first major public library buildings in Ireland.
A competition for the design of the building was won by architect WH Lynn in 1883 and it was built by H & J Martin builders.[1] Designed to reflect the ambitions of the growing city of Belfast, its architecture is a fine example of public-service building at the height of the Victorian age. On a black granite base, the Dumfries red sandstone exterior with a slightly Italianate feel, houses a three-floor interior with a sweeping staircase, a pillared foyer, and a fine domed first-floor reading room. The top floor originally included a museum and art gallery. The building is a notable part of the 19th century cityscape of modern Belfast. It has survived undamaged through the Belfast Blitz of World War II and the Troubles of the late 20th century.
The library is located in the Cathedral Quarter, on the edge of Belfast City Centre and close to the Belfast Campus of the University of Ulster. Two additional buildings were added to the site in the 1960s and 1970s, providing staff accommodation and extra storage. These reflect the growth in the book stock of the library in the intervening decades.
The Library is now run by the Belfast Education and Library Board, and is part of a city-wide network of over twenty branches and mobile services. It houses a range of sections, including a reference library still based in the original reading room, a Belfast, Ulster and Irish Department, and the only dedicated Music Library in Northern Ireland. It is a major provider of IT facilities, with half of the ground floor providing free internet access. Its foyer hosts regular displays.
The Library has a number of special collections, including a fine book collection, the library and manuscripts of Francis Joseph Bigger, the manuscripts of the eccentric Amanda McKittrick Ros and the manuscripts of the Ulster playwright Sam Thompson.
A recent addition to the Library's collections is the Northern Ireland Music Archive, a computerised database housing recordings, scores and other materials relating to music created by Northern Ireland composers/artists. The Archive, which was funded and developed by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, was officially launched in March 2006 with much media coverage, initially housing music solely from the contemporary/classical genre. Continuing development will see the archived materials expanding to represent all genres of music produced in Northern Ireland, including in 2007 the incorporation of folk and traditional materials from the Geoff Harden Archive.
Northern Ireland Screen have also placed a new access point to their Digital Film Archive in the Library. Both of these computerised archives are publicly accessible and can be found in the Music Library, on the top floor of the Library building.