NON‐LIBRARIANSHIP: YESTERDAY'S CLOSED LIBRARIES Available to Purchase

Of the libraries in which I worked during my youth several closed for ever after I left them. There were two central libraries and four branch libraries between 1930 and 1939—now gone. I must add that the reason for closure was either a building's age or its unsuitability for modern needs. It is of the branch libraries that I write. These were situated in the inner wards of Birmingham; wards rapidly changing from a mixed industrial and residential to an entirely industrial use. The housing that remained was fast decaying into slums prior to depopulation and eventual demolition.