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The
world's first Andrew Carnegie Library was
opened on 29th August 1883 in Dunfermline,
his ancestral birthplace. The opening of this
new public library, which had taken two years
to build after his mother had put down the
foundation stone, was regarded as the most
significant local event of the year. A public
holiday had been declared and thousands of
Dunfermline people welcomed Carnegie back
to his home town for the opening. The millionaire
philanthropist had contributed £8,000 to building
and stocking what was to be the first of over
2,500 Carnegie funded libraries worldwide.
The building was designed in the "Domestic
tudor" style by Edinburgh designer J.C. Walker
so as to blend in with the existing architecture
of historic Dunfermline town.
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In
its early years the library was a huge success
lending over 2,000 books. So much so that it
soon became evident that it was lacking in space
and the layout was not quite right. Also government
legislation restricted library expenditure so
their was insufficient funds to purchase new
books. To overcome this problem the Carnegie
Dunfermline Trust, formed in 1904, agreed to
share the management of the library with the
local council and injected much needed funds
into the building. Over the years improvements
and extensions have been added and modified
to make the Dunfermline Library an asset to
the people of Dunfermline and the surrounding
area's, with the huge range of books, CD ROM's,
reference material and now free Internet access
on approximately 20 computers. Not to mention
the Meeting Rooms, Exhibition Rooms, Local History
Room, and finally Children's and Music libraries.
For more information telephone 01383 312908
or email DCLib.Admin@fife.gov.uk
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