One of the biggest libraries in the city, Liverpool city library is situated on William Brown Street next to the Museum and Art Gallery. It is one of the largest public libraries in Britain and is open to all members of the public for reference purposes. The Liverpool city library also offers free browsing to residents, students and employees within Liverpool.
The library has a collection of books on varied subject matters. The general topics include Science and Technology, Art and Recreation, General and Social Science, Business and Information, International and Local Studies. You can also find books on performing arts and music.
The state of art facility at the library includes CD-ROM search and E-search. There are 24 libraries in the city and Central Library stands as the largest among those. You can borrow books and spoken-word cassettes free of charge and videos and CDs for a small charge from the library.
The Central Library in Liverpool has been awarded ?31.5 million by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to preserve its building and further development plans. Located between The Walker Art Gallery and Liverpool Museum, the library in Liverpool is expected to be ready by 2008.
A rare book on ornithology - John James Audubon's famous Birds of America is on display at Liverpool's Central Library. The volumes were purchased by the Central Library in 1861. There are only 120 copies in the world, each of them being unique with hand-coloured engravings.
