Manchester Central Library — Attraction in Manchester

Manchester Central Library is the headquarters of the city's library and information service in Manchester, England. Facing St Peter's Square, it was designed by E. Vincent Harris and constructed between 1930 and 1934. The form of the building, a columned portico attached to a rotunda domed structure, is loosely derived from the Pantheon, Rome. At its opening, one critic wrote, "This is the sort of thing which persuades one to believe in the perennial applicability of the Classical canon".

The library building is grade II* listed. A four-year project to renovate and refurbish the library commenced in 2010.[3] Central Library re-opened on 22 March 2014.

Manchester was the first local authority to provide a public lending and reference library after the passing of the Public Libraries Act 1850. The Manchester Free Library opened at Campfield in September 1852 at a ceremony attended by Charles Dickens. When the Campfield premises were declared to be unsafe in 1877, the library was moved to the old Town Hall in King Street. The library moved again to what is now Piccadilly Gardens, to the former outpatients wing of Manchester Royal Infirmary and an old YMCA hut in 1912.

In 1926 the city council held a competition to design an extension to the town hall and a central library. E. Vincent Harris was selected to design both buildings. His circular design for the library, reminiscent of the Pantheon in Rome, was based on libraries in America. The library's foundation stone was laid on 6 May 1930 by the Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald. The library was officially opened by King George V on 17 July 1934 after he had laid the foundation stone for the Town Hall Extension.

In 1934 the Blind Collection from Deansgate and the Commercial Library from the Royal Exchange were moved to the library. The Chinese Library Service was set up in 1968.

It is the second largest public lending library in Britain, after the Library of Birmingham.

Beneath the Great Hall were four floors of steel book stacks providing 35 miles of shelving which accommodated one million books: video. Those floors were only accessible to employees and were environmentally controlled to protect books, many of which are old and fragile.[20] The upper two stack floors occupied all the area under the dome. The fourth level, the Archive unit, was in the basement of the building. The lower two stack floors were smaller because the basement theatre took some of that area. In 2011 when the library closed for the alterations, there were 3600 stack columns supporting approximately 45,000 shelves; those columns were rooted in the sandstone rock underneath and supported the Great Hall's reinforced concrete floor. Placed end to end, those shelves would have covered over 35 miles (56 km). The total floor area was about 7,000 square yards (5,850 m2). After the 2010–2014 alterations, many of the former stack books (except rare or valuable or fragile books) are on...

I’ve genuinely never left a bad review in my life, but the experience I had at Manchester Central was beyond disappointing.

I came in to print a few pages and was incredibly polite the entire time—even when things kept going wrong. The papers kept coming out incorrectly, but I stayed calm and asked nicely if they could be reprinted. At no point was I rude or demanding. Eventually, the price on the screen didn’t match what it should’ve been, but I even said I’d just pay the higher price to avoid causing trouble.

After paying, one of my documents printed completely wrong—an A3 image came out as A2 on an A3 paper, with no visible writing. I pointed it out and explained that I wouldn’t pay again for a print that was clearly incorrect. This clearly upset the ginger receptionist at the bottom front desk, who suddenly told me (in a very rude and dismissive tone) to not come to her anymore and that I should take out cash and print everything myself.

Even then, I told her it was fine—I actually felt bad for making her print something I didn’t pay for, even though it was their machine’s error. But on my way back to my seat, I overheard her talking about me to another receptionist, and when I showed the incorrect printout again, another staff member (with shorter hair) said it was my fault.

I’ve never been treated with such disrespect by people in a public service role. You’d expect librarians to be kind, helpful, and professional—but what I experienced was the opposite. I walked out feeling embarrassed and uncomfortable, despite being nothing but polite and patient throughout. Absolutely shameful service, I will never be going back, it’s a shame such a beautiful library is ruined by...

Good facilities and beautiful architecture. I had never visited before the recent refurbishments so I don't know how its changed since then but the media centre on the ground floor looks rather tech and all the bits that aren't the lobby and reading room look very modern and clean. It being a library I guess books are the most important feature and in this department MCL does not disappoint. Its a bold claim I know but I have used the library as my go to place for academic resources and although I have not always been able to find exactly what I wanted what I have found has been more than sufficient. Due to its size it took me a while to become familiar with whole layout, but that in itself I like about it. That its so big you can get lost. However, as a place of study there are some issues, and these are broadly issue concerning any public library. First the reading room attracts a lot of tourists and other members of the public who are not visiting to read. Many are sensitive to the fact that there are people trying to work in silence but there are plenty of others who have no regard whatsoever. Chatting away like they have just arrived at the pub and others bringing their children, or both. Second is that the lower ground floor is generally a hub for all the nutters and unwashed people of Manchester. I'm sorry, but this is true, and if you are sat attempting to writing an essay what you don't need is a man to your left who smells like he washes every solar eclipse and to your right a woman incessantly muttering, twitching and clearing her throat. I advise any student to stick to their school or university library if you...