ONE of the largest libraries in Europe will start a new chapter in its long history as a £3 million upgrade begins.
The Mitchell Library in Glasgow, which opened in 1911, has more than one million items of stock and is a central information hub for people from the city and across Scotland.
The Charing Cross building also holds the Glasgow city archives and collections and is one of the world's best resources for researching family history.
Work will start on a £3.4m upgrade to the building on Thursday and will replace the 30-year-old fire detection system, improve its lighting and install new lifts.
It will also include the creation of a family history centre within the library, an improved study space and two upgraded public lifts.
Councillor Archie Graham, Chair of Glasgow Life, said: "The fire alarm upgrade is essential for public safety and to ensure we safeguard the Mitchell Library's outstanding collections and the rich heritage of the city that is housed within the building. I'm confident the public will be pleased with the outcome when the refurbishment is complete."
There will be limited access to some of the library's collections during the work. Levels four and five will close from Thursday until March 2014. Services from those levels can be requested from staff on levels two and three and can also be requested in advance by calling 0141 287 2999.
Glasgow Life, which operates the Mitchell Library and 32 other libraries in the city, said it had scheduled the work in two phases to minimise disruption.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article