Leadhill’s Miners Library with miners
Scotland has major historic traditions of publicly available library provision stretching back to the late 17th century, and of which the country has good reason to be proud. The first publicly available library in Scotland was founded in 1680 at Innerpeffray in Perthshire. It still survives today and is well worth a visit. It is an endowed library which means that it was founded by a wealthy patron who gave both his books and money to create a library and an income to support it thereafter. However, the model of library organisation which came to predominate and which survived into the late 19th century was the subscription library. Subscription libraries were like clubs or societies. Members paid a fee to join and an annual subscription which gave them the right to participate in the library’s activities including electing a management committee and the library’s president.There were two types of subscription library: libraries for the better off, whose members paid a higher subscription, perhaps about £1 a year, and consequently amassed substantial collections; and libraries for the (mainly) skilled working classes which emerged mainly in the 1790s and which charged only a few shillings and consequently amassed smaller collections.
Library membership certificate