Description:The Librarian's Room at Handsworth Library. 1913. The library was opened on May 1st, 1880. There were books to borrow, and newspapers in the Reading Room. The first Annual Report in 1881 stated that the Committee:
'had the pleasure of congratulating the Local Board and the inhabitants of the District on the great success which has attended the adoption of the Public Libraries' Acts in Handsworth'
28,810 volumes had been issued in the first year. In July 1882 music books were added to the stock; the 1887 Report affirming that
'our Music Library is acknowledged to be of special and almost unique excellence amongst Free Public Libraries'
By 1882 there were 2,434 borrowers. This would continue to increase over the next thirty years, partly due to universal education, and partly due to the increase in population. By 1911 the population was given as 73,000; and there were 4,235 borrowers.