Exchange and Mart, meanwhile, was a hit all over the city….

The delivery of periodicals to Glasgow first collection of libraries back in the early 1900s is one of the quirkier discoveries Clare Thompson unearthed during recent research at the Mitchell Library.

As Woodside Library prepares to re-open on Monday after a £2.3m refurbishment, librarian Clare has been digging deep into the city archives and trawling the shelves of the Mitchell for fascinating facts about the 117-year-old building.

“It’s been really interesting – as one of the city’s oldest libraries there is a lot of information and old photos and publications about Woodside,” she explains.

“A report was published in 1900 recommending the establishment of eight district libraries and five reading rooms, with each library to include a lending department, reference books, a general reading room – for ‘general’, read ‘men’s’ – and reading rooms especially for ladies, boys and girls.”

Clare adds: “And then along came Andrew Carnegie, with all his money, and he offered £100,000 for branch libraries which meant the number of libraries to be built in Glasgow increased to 14, with three reading rooms.

“The first ones to be built were the ones in the city’s most densely populated areas – Bridgeton, Townhead, Anderston, the Gorbals and Woodside.”

Woodside in the west end was a thriving industry hub, with nearby paper mills and iron works. Glasgow Corporation decided on the current site, on St George’s Road, and – as the book Glasgow Corporation Libraries Department explains - “The cost of the site (£3000) is somewhat more than the estimate (£2500)….but these moderate increases may be warranted in view of the very large population in the district to be served by this library – larger than any other district as divided for library purposes.”

In 1902, the Corporation invited architects to enter the competition to design Woodside and it was won by J R Rhind.

The library’s opening ceremony took place on March 11, 1905, and in a spectacular piece of marketing, the library’s catalogue was published and circulated with its own ‘press release’.

Clare smiles: “It was very well done. It read: ‘An excellent and rare example of how to catalogue a library for the greatest benefit of its readers…’ and it was well-received not just in Glasgow, but around the world.

“It was favourably reviewed in New York newspaper The Nation, and in The Bookseller and The Scotsman, and after reading the glowing reviews, the Pittsburgh Carnegie Library requested a copy.”

The ‘free library movement’, as it was described in The Bailie newspaper in 1905, had really “caught on with the inhabitants of Saint Mungo.”

It added: “Over 58,000 persons visited the half-dozen free libraries open within our municipal boundaries in one week, recently. The juvenile reading rooms….are proving very popular with our young ones, who flock thither in their hundreds each evening and indulge their souls in the literary gems provided…happy, or should I say fortunate bairns, these!”

Young readers were also treated to a series of lectures in later years – in the 1950s, a whole range of eminent speakers invited by the education department entertained local schoolchildren with topics as diverse as ‘Listening to Music’ and ‘Getting to Know the Countryside.’

Clare adds: “These talks were illustrated by films and a selection of books relating to the topic were displayed to encourage people to borrow them – just as we do today with our educational events.”

The renovations have uncovered original features of the building, including ceiling domes which were hidden by a false ceiling.

“It’s stunning,” says Clare. “It’s fantastic so many features have been retained.”

In 1980, Woodside was one of six Glasgow libraries – along with Gorbals, Govanhill, Ibrox, Langside and Pollokshields, which established Asian Languages Collections.

Clare explains: “The languages included Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi, and in Woodside, where there was a growing Chinese population, Chinese was included too.

“This is interesting because it shows the way Glasgow was changing, and where these different communities were emerging - libraries helping to tell the story of a city.”

If you would like to do your own research, the team in Special Collections at the Mitchell Library can assist. Email specialcollections@glasgowlife.org.uk or call 0141 287 2988 for more information.