Nazi book burnings of so-called subversive literature in May 1933, the fatwah imposed on Salman Rushie for his book “The Satanic Verses” (blasphemous and offensive to Islam), the censorship of “1984” written by George Orwell (banned in the USSR for being anti-communist), “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” penned by D H Lawrence (deemed Indecent and immoral at the time) and even the Harry Potter books by J K Rowling (witchcraft) are all examples of literature that has been deliberately supressed or vilified at some point in the past. Clearly, the power of the written word has moved various individuals, governments and despots to take umbrage or extreme measures against books that have offended them. However, books and literature can only wield this power if people can actually read, but this has not always been the case.
Burning of "un-German" books in Berlin, Germany, May 10, 1933
Before the advent of Christianity, it is estimated that the ability to read was limited to less than 10-15% of the total population. However, Christianity was slow in the beginning to promote literacy among the general population. Whilst congregations might faithfully recite a Latin mass, it was done by rote, not comprehension as few understood that language. Oral tradition and preaching, hymns and prayers as well as depiction of biblical stories through symbols in art meant that the spoken word and imagery were the main vehicles for spreading religious knowledge, not the written word. The transition from Latin to vernacular languages in Christianity was a long, often contested process driven by the desire to make scripture accessible to the common person. The 16th century Protestant Reformation was the most significant driver for translating the Bible into the language of the people, aiming to bypass clergy interpretation. The invention of the printing press in the 15th century, making the mass production of vernacular Bibles more affordable could not have come at a more opportune time.
From its very inception 600 years or so after the birth of Christ, Islam placed paramount emphasis on reading and the acquisition of knowledge, establishing it as a foundational religious duty rather than a mere leisure activity. The very first word revealed of the Quran was "Iqra" (Read! or Recite!). The Quran is meant to be read, contemplated, and understood, rather than just recited.
We have to thank Islam for the preservation of much of the knowledge which stems from Ancient Greece and Rome. During the so-called ‘Dark Ages’ between the 5th and 10th centuries CE after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, there was a decline in intellectual, cultural and economic activity in Europe. Thanks to the massive Islamic Translation Movement between the 8th and 10th centuries CE, key works were translated into Arabic which was, and remains, the unifying language of Islam. This knowledge went on to be augmented with mathematics, medicine and philosophy before then being translated into Latin, without which, the European Renaissance of the 15th and 16th centuries may never have happened. Clearly, down the ages the world’s two greatest religions have been influential in the spread of literacy throughout the masses.
The spread of literacy in the our wee village of Kirkliston appears to have begun as early as the 17th century as records indicate there was a schoolmaster here before 1648. In 1861, the Free Church of Scotland was responsible for the construction of a school in Queensferry Road. However, the Education (Scotland) Act of 1872 put an end to church control of elementary education with local authorities taking charge and making education compulsory for children aged 5 to 13. The following year, local authorities had oversight of the appointment of school boards that were responsible for the management of local schools. Going a step further, the Education (Scotland) Act of 1883 raised the school leaving age to 14. These innovations were replicated at various points in time throughout the rest of the UK.
The original school building of 1861 still exists, but now serves as Kirkliston's Community Centre.
The role of UK trade unions in the spread of education and literacy should not be underestimated either. Late 19th century worker colleges and the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) founded in 1903 to make education accessible to everyone, particularly disadvantaged adults, are two notable examples. In fact, the WEA remains the largest voluntary sector provider of adult education to this day.
However, this article is as much about the role of libraries in making the written word more accessible.
Founded in the 7th century BCE, the Library of Ashurbanipal in Ninevah (modern-day Iraq) is reckoned to be the world’s first organised library. Created by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, it housed over 30,000 clay tablets containing cuneiform texts. Much later, but still a very long time ago, the Great Library of Alexandria, founded in Egypt around 295 BCE, was the ancient world’s largest repository of knowledge, holding an estimated 40,000 to 700,000 papyrus scrolls. Despite the magnificence of libraries such as these, they were principally for the use of privileged groups and classes, not the general population. Much the same was true of university libraries which were only accessible to the relatively small number people that could afford to embark on a university education. Libraries that were free of charge, tax-supported and truly accessible to the masses did not really appear in their modern form until the mid-19th century, particularly in the UK and USA. This massive gap in time between the ancient libraries and the advent of modern libraries is a sad indictment that is both glaring and regrettable.
An Egyptian papyrus scroll
And now we come to the Scot, Andrew Carnegie, born in Dunfermline in 1835. At the tender age of 12, he and his family emigrated to the USA. His first employment was as a bobbin boy and then a telegrapher. Obviously an intelligent and enterprising individual, he was already wealthy by the time he was thirty years of age. He then made a career switch to steel, resulting in him becoming one of the richest men in the world, amassing a personal fortune of $300 billion by today’s values. To put it mildly, he wasn’t a particularly ‘nice guy’ as far as his workforce was concerned, with a pronounced disdain for better pay and conditions demanded by his employees. Thankfully, in his later years he acquired philanthropic qualities which led him to become responsible for what can only be described as a tsunami in the spread of libraries across the English-speaking world.
Andrew Carnegie, 1835-1919
Carnegie loved libraries and believed he owed everything to those he had frequented as an ill-educated, but literate youth. In 1883, through his generosity he funded the Dunfermline Carnegie Library (his home town, of course) which is still open today.
By his death, Carnegie had financed more than 2,500 libraries throughout Britain and the USA. Astutely, he required the relevant local authority to prove it needed a library, provide a suitable site, pay 10% of the building cost and commit to run the facility thereafter. In 1890 the magnificent Edinburgh Central Library opened on Edinburgh’s George IV Bridge. Financed through the benevolence of Carnegie, it was astonishingly, at such a late date, the very first public library in Scotland’s capital.
Edinburgh Central Library, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh
The first iteration of a library in Kirkliston was the Kirkliston Reading Room, a wooden building opened for the inhabitants of Kirkliston and district in 1904. It was located to the rear of where Nippers Nursery now stands between Main Street and the Almondvale Medical Practice. As well as providing a collation of books, newspapers and periodicals to read, it was something of a social hub, offering billiards, cards, dominoes etc for the villagers before closure in 1938. Research has failed to unearth a definitive photograph of the Kirkliston Reading Room, but Betty Hamilton of Kirkliston Heritage Society has very kindly donoted this image below of her Aunt Nell to the rear of the pharmacy in Main Street carrying milk cans with the reading room in the background.
After the demise of the Reading Room, Kirkliston relied on the services of West Lothian Council mobile library vans. In 1974, a year before boundary changes which placed our village within the City of Edinburgh District Council, a 'temporary' library was built on the site of the former playpark in Station Road to replace the leaky mobile library.
In the 1990's, the current library in Station Road replaced the ‘temporary’ structure built in 1974. It is a dual-purpose building with five flats above and is a community hub offering books, public computers, and free activities, serving as a local, modern space rather than a traditional, silent reading room. It features regular Bookbug sessions, a monthly book group, and Chatterbooks for children.
The current Kirkliston Library
It is sad to note that the future of libraries across the country is under threat. With local authorities having to make swingeing budget cuts, libraries are a soft target. In the City of Edinburgh, a reduction in opening hours, transaction-only days with limited staff focusing on borrowing/returns rather than community events or community services are making our libraries less accessible. Worryingly, these cutbacks are also accompanied by staff reductions, but thankfully, not mandatory redundancies. Perhaps remote access online may be the future, but the joy of curling up in a comfy chair with a book and a coffee at your elbow is a pleasure that would be sorely missed.
A P George
Kirkliston Heritage Society
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