West Riding County Council Library Service

The following source list was originally available only on paper in one of the West Yorkshire Archive Service offices. It may have been compiled many years ago and could be out of date. It was designed to act as a signpost to records of interest on a particular historical subject, but may relate only to one West Yorkshire district, or be an incomplete list of sources available.

The Public Libraries Act, 1919 authorised county councils to provide a library service for those districts which had not already adopted earlier library acts. As a result the West Riding county library scheme was established in 1921. When the library scheme was launched all local councils in the library area were invited to participate and centres were opened in every locality where suitable local arrangements were made (not all libraries became part of the West Riding County Council library service, some were administered by their local authority). As a result of the Review of County Districts under the Local Government Act 1929 some library centres were transferred to other public library administrative areas in 1937 and 1938.

The West Riding County Council library service ran the library headquarters in Wakefield, oversaw branch libraries and provided an educational service of books for schools, adult classes and evening institutions. The library service was overseen by the Library Sub-Committee of the Education Committee until 1966 when its responsibilities were taken over by a standing committee of the West Riding County Council. In 1974 the West Riding County Council was dissolved and library services were provided by the new local authorities.

In 1940 a programme of reorganisation was undertaken by the County Library Committee. The County Library headquarters which had previously administered the Public Library, Adult Class Library, Secondary School Library, Evening Institute Music Library and the Teachers' Reference Library became one County Library. The administrative system was decentralised by the setting up of three regional headquarters at Barnoldswick, Edlington and Knaresborough to act as links between the county librarian, branch librarians and voluntary local librarians working at Village Library Centres. Additional regional headquarters were planned with additional area librarians in geographically isolated areas.

There were a great many new branch libraries built and reorganised between 1940-1946. During this time, the use of shops as branch libraries was also introduced and unqualified staff were replaced with qualified librarians. A travelling library service was established in the late 1940s and mobile libraries and branch libraries began to supersede Village Library Centres. Decentralisation policies continued throughout the 1950s. The West region's headquarters was moved from Barnoldswick to Earby in 1951. A North-West region which was to have headquarters at Bentham or Ingleton was set up, being temporarily administered by the headquarters in Earby. A regional headquarters in Otley was established in 1954 serving the area from Skipton to Harrogate and Hebden to Pudsey. The existing Knaresborough Region and the proposed Ripon Region were combined into one new Knaresborough and Ripon region based at the existing Knaresborough headquarters in 1954. New headquarters in Wakefield were opened in Balne Lane in 1964. By 1966 there were regional headquarters at Earby, Otley, Knaresborough, Sherburn-in-Elmet, Conisbrough, Penistone, Hebden Bridge and Wakefield.

The Public Libraries and Museums Act ,1964, required library authorities to provide a comprehensive and efficient service. The act gave powers to the Secretary of State to oversee the improvement of services and made provision for the establishment of advisory councils to advise the Secretary of State and of regional councils to facilitate inter-library loans. The act expanded the remit of library services to include gramophone records and films as well as books, and encouraged closer links with museums and art galleries (leading to the provision of meeting and exhibition spaces in libraries from the mid-1960s onwards). A special sub-committee was established in July 1964 to discuss the amalgamation of smaller library authorities. At this time libraries who had previously been run under local councils as opposed to the West Riding County Council became part of the West Riding County Library Service - this included Silsden, Swinton, Thorne, Penistone, Tickhill and Mexborough. It was also proposed that the largest two regions Wakefield and South Yorkshire (with headquarters at Conisbrough) should be split into three with headquarters at Wakefield, Carcroft and Maltby. Those areas which remained outside the West Riding County Council Library Service were - County boroughs: Barnsley, Bradford, Dewsbury, Doncaster, Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds, Rotherham, Sheffield and Wakefield

Boroughs: Batley, Brighouse, Castleford, Goole, Harrogate, Keighley, Morley, Ossett, Pontefract, Spenborough and Todmorden

Urban districts: Aireborough, Bingley, Dearne, Elland, Heckmondwike, Horbury, Horsforth, Ilkley, Normanton, Rawmarsh, Rothwell, Shipley, Skipton, Sowerby Bridge and Wombwell.

As reaction to the 1964 legislation control of the West Riding County Library Service was transferred from the Library Sub-Committee of the Education Committee to a standing committee of the West Riding County Council in 1966. The West Riding County Council Library Committee consisted of forty members including the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the County Council, at least 25 members of the Education Committee and 13 additional members of the County Council (which could include those on the Education Committee).

During the 1960s increased emphasis was put on the information service provided by library staff and a medical library at Doncaster Royal Infirmary for staff opened in 1968 (a library at Pinderfields, Wakefield's Postgraduate Medical Centre, followed in 1971 and discussions as to libraries at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary were opened in 1972). Future plans, however, were hindered by discussion of government reorganisation. During 1972-3 working parties made up of librarians (with some participation from officers and elected members of the council) surveyed the current library resources in order to plan how best to use those resources after government reorganisation.

Local Government reform divided West Riding library services into 14 new library authorities in 1974: the metropolitan districts of Bradford, Barnsley, Leeds, Doncaster, Calderdale, Sheffield, Kirklees, Rotherham, Wakefield and Oldham, and the counties of Cumbria, Lancashire, Humberside and North Yorkshire.

From 1974 the library headquarters in Wakefield no longer had a role in supporting other library branches. The Balne Lane headquarters became the new headquarters of Wakefield Libraries and Information Service housing the Wakefield Learning and Local Studies Library.

The reference for this collection is WRD10.