Gillian Thompson
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| Country | Guyana |
|---|---|
| Type | National library and Public library |
| Established | 1909 |
| Location | Georgetown |
| Coordinates | 6°48′50″N 58°09′53″W / 6.813805°N 58.164614°WCoordinates: 6°48′50″N 58°09′53″W / 6.813805°N 58.164614°W |
| Branches | 5 (New Amsterdam Branch Library; Linden Branch Library; Ruimveldt Branch Library; Bagotville Branch Library and Corriverton Branch Library) |
| Collection | |
| Items collected | Books, historical documents, manuscripts, phonograph recordings |
| Size | 397,893 (2007) |
| Legal deposit | Yes, as enshrined in the Publications and Newspapers Act of 1972 |
| Access and use | |
| Population served | 200,000 (1990) |
| Members | 22,058 (2007) |
| Other information | |
| Budget | 700,000 Guyanese dollars (1990) |
| Director | Committee of the National Library |
| Staff | 60 (1990) |
| Website | http://nationallibraryofguyana.com/ |
| References: | |
The National Library of Guyana (formerly known as the Carnegie Free Library, the Georgetown Free Public Library and the Free Public Library) is the legal deposit and copyright library for Guyana. Unlike many national libraries, it is also a public lending library and the headquarters of Guyana's public library service, with branches extending throughout the country. Founded in 1909, the National Library of Guyana is situated on the corner of Church Street and Main Street in central Georgetown. In 2007, the library recorded a collection of 397,893 books and a total of 22,058 members. Its collection includes the papers of A. J. Seymour and Ian McDonald.
The National Library of Guyana has its origins in an initiative by the Scottish-American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who donated a sum of £7,000 to enable the construction of a public library in Georgetown, British Guiana (now Guyana), in 1907. The initiative was part of a Caribbean-wide library expansion organised and sponsored by Carnegie, and the National Library of Guyana was one of a number of Carnegie libraries that were built in the region in the early twentieth-century.
In 1907, the Governor of the Colony, F. M. Hodson, appointed a Provisional Committee to implement a proposal for the establishment of a Public Free Library using the funding provided by Carnegie. In July 1908, Ordinance No. 12 of 1908, known as the "Public Free Library Ordinance", was passed, which entrusted the maintenance of the library to the Mayor and the Town Council of Georgetown, and to the Combined Court. Construction of the library building began on April 28, 1908, when the foundation stone was laid.
In September 1909 the library, which was initially called the Carnegie Free Library, and later the Georgetown Public Free Library, was opened to the public. Initially it ran on a closed access system by which the public were separated from the books by an iron grille, and requests were written and passed to the librarian through a small window. The library opened with an initial book collection of 57,000 books, which were chosen by the librarian of the Westminster Public Libraries at the request of the Crown Agents of the Colonies, and which were purchased on a budget of £900. 1,500 members had enrolled by the time of opening. The first librarian was Emily Murray, who served at the library from 1909 to 1940. On April 4, 1910 the library opened its lending service with a stock of 5,700 books.
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