The joy of libraries

Manchester's monument of learning is an inspiration to David Conn

The joy of libraries

Manchester's monument of learning is an inspiration to David Conn

In the lustrous dome of the social sciences room in the heart of Manchester's Central Library, the city leaders selected a portion of the Book of Proverbs to inspire the people to reading. "Wisdom is the principal thing," the gold capitals intone. "Therefore get wisdom. And with all thy getting, get understanding."

In my days as a student, making an outing of the chore of revision, the long oak tables offered additional civic advice. "Thieves operate in this library," a sign said, plainly. "Keep your belongings with you."

One time, when I had come over a little dreamy about the wonder of wisdom-getting, some git did nick my watch. I looked round then, and understood that not everyone was in there seeking the grace of learning. Among the idling students and professorial types bent over books or scrolling down microfiches, were old men in mucky parkas, poor-looking blokes sniffling over the newspapers.

Proud, classically stone-built in 1934 in the depths of economic depression, Central Library is a monument to the belief that there is such a thing as society, and still a place where everybody can go for free, whether to get understanding, borrow Freddie Flintoff's autobiography, join the queue to use 40 computers, or just keep warm.

The library scraped through the years of cuts (Majorite, surprisingly, not Thatcherite), had the layers of grime cleaned off for the millennium, and last year claimed a 20% increase, to 37,500, in numbers of people borrowing books, bucking the national trend. It stocks language and literature on the fourth floor, arts and music on the second, general lending, CDs and DVDs on the ground floor, and has a Chinese library, and a unit for the visually impaired.

Funding for libraries has increased nationally since a year after Labour was elected in 1997, up to £1.1bn, £18.32 per person, in 2004-05, according to Loughborough University's latest annual library statistics. It is still a struggle, though; the bulk of cash went on wages and the £95m spent on new books, under 9% of the total, was the lowest proportion of total spending for at 25 years.

Almost half of all adults go to a library in a year and visits increased last year, but for a decade, book borrowing has been declining. "Libraries are increasing visits by offering more services and getting out into communities with book buses, mobile units, taking displays and activities into schools," says Claire Creaser, a statistician at Loughborough. "But the main draw seems to be the computers."

The queue to use the networks centre in Manchester forms when Central Library opens its doors at 9am and lasts till closing time at 8pm. Users are limited to two hours, and no coming back again the same day, but some of the crafty crowd have been known to offer false names and try to get back on.

When the library was opened by King George V, every child in Manchester was given a commemorative handkerchief, bearing pictures of king and queen, and the legend: "Knowledge is power." As a kid, my parents told me proudly that Central Library is the country's biggest (which isn't true), and Manchester's most beautiful building (which, in my opinion, is true).

It has also been, for generations, a place to cop off, a tradition being honourably maintained by some excitable Asian teenagers, whose parents must be thrilled their kids are spending so much time in the library. It can get quite steamy on the stairwells, apparently.

Reading, snogging, a theatre in the basement, computers, local history, old newspapers, and the quest for understanding - it's all there in Central Library. Just keep an eye on your stuff.

Death masks to Agatha Christie letters ...

National Library of Scotland

Has the first book printed in Scotland in 1508, the last letter written by Mary Queen of Scots, the signed order of the massacre of Glencoe and original Sherlock Holmes manuscripts. From May onwards, the Murray collection will be on show, which includes an early copy of The Origin of Species, with handwritten notes from Charles Darwin to his publisher.

· George IV Bridge, Edinburgh

Pepys Library, Cambridge

View the whole collection of Samuel Pepys' diaries during term time in Cambridge's Magdalen College. Open 2.30pm-3.30pm daily Jan 16-Mar 17, and then reopens Apr 24-Aug 31, with opening hours extending to include an 11.30-12.30pm viewing slot.

· Magdalene College,Cambridge

Dr Williams's Library

This theological library is an important source of information on English Protestant dissention. See Oliver Cromwell's death mask and the baptismal font of Elizabeth I.

· 14 Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, London (020) 7387 3727

Leeds University Special Collections Library

See one of Shakespeare's first folios, a lock of Mozart's hair, a collection of handwritten letters by Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, Thomas Hardy, and TS Eliot, and a number of handwritten manuscripts by Evelyn Waugh, Graeme Green, and John Betjeman.

· Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, West Yorkshire

Exeter University Library

See original manuscripts of Ted Hughes poetry, and a collection of Agatha Christie's letters. It also houses a selection of so-called Cornish poet laureate Charles Causley's poetry, and John Betjeman's personal library.

· Stocker Road, Exeter, Devon

University of Manchester John Rylands University Library

The collection houses the St John Fragment, the oldest surviving piece of the new testament, dating from the second century.

· Oxford Road, Manchester

University College London

This library has a George Orwell archive, with numerous diaries and notebooks among its collection.

· Wilkins Building, Gower Street

University of Sussex Special Collections

Includes numerous papers and photographs from Rudyard Kipling's collection, a plethora of correspondence by the Bloomsbury set, including personal letters between Virginia and Leonard Woolf. It also holds the New Statesman archive.

The Sherlock Holmes Collection

Held at Marylebone Information Service, the collection is only accessible by appointment. The collection includes stories, information about his creator Conan Doyle, photographs, cuttings and journals.

V&A National Art Library

Lots of interesting free collections, including one on graffiti.

· Cromwell Road, South Kensington

University of Liverpool Library Science Fiction Foundation

Created in 1970 by George Hay with the mighty Arthur C Clarke and Ursula Le Guin as patrons, this has the largest collection of science fiction in Europe with 25,000 books.

The Women's Library

This library at London Metropolitan University has an impressive amount of material on everything and anything to do with women and women's history.

· Old Castle Street, London
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