Carnegie Library, Coatbridge

I CAN’T BEGIN TO DESCRIBE HOW MUCH of an impact Carnegie Library had on me growing up on a Coatbridge housing estate.

- Mark Millar

Getting a library card was like getting a driving licence. It was my ticket to a million other worlds, each one bound neatly and stacked in rows in whatever subject caught my eye. As a kid who loved reading, I couldn’t believe these were all for free, when books were prohibitively expensive and usually just for Christmas or birthdays. When I was twelve, I faked my ID so I could get an adult card and have four books at a time.