{"id":8255,"date":"2013-02-09T18:50:44","date_gmt":"2013-02-09T17:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=8255"},"modified":"2013-02-09T18:50:44","modified_gmt":"2013-02-09T17:50:44","slug":"celebrating-the-ongoing-success-of-abingdon-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=8255","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating the ongoing success of Abingdon Library"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Abingdon Library\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag13\/13020902.jpg\" \/><br \/>\nAbingdon Library&nbsp;was celebrating&nbsp;National Library Day with some special events today.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Abingdon Library\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag13\/13020903.jpg\" \/><br \/>\nThere was also a new display upstairs showing the library in days gone by. On the screen of the&nbsp;microfiche reader was the Abingdon Herald of Saturday 18th April 1896, the first edition since Abingdon Free Library was officially opened. An unnamed reporter described the scene &#8230;<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Abingdon Library\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag13\/13020901.jpg\" \/><br \/>\n<em>&#8220;Fickle April was in its best mood, and the town wore a holiday aspect, when on Wednesday afternoon the Earl of Abingdon formally declared the Free Library and Reading-room open. The proceedings were timed to begin at 3 o&#8217;clock and long before that hour the Market-place and High-street were thronged with interested spectators awaiting the arrival of Lord Abingdon&#8230;. Several of the houses and the library itself were decorated with flags, and the chief display was made by Mr Bradley whose motto was &#8220;Success to the Abingdon Free Library.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Lord Abingdon&nbsp;spoke from the balcony to the&nbsp;spectators below. He &#8220;<em> hailed with satisfaction the foresight and liberality of&nbsp;the Governors of Christ&#8217;s Hospital in placing at the disposition of the town such an institution.&#8221;<\/em><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Abingdon Library\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag13\/13020904.jpg\" \/><br \/>\nParts of the Free Library are still recognisable.  The ceiling of the back room of Smiths the Chemist now looks down on nappies and toiletries and not a library counter with the words &#8220;all junior books here.&#8221;  <\/p>\n<p>The library staff moved from&nbsp;the Free Library building to the&nbsp;Charter premises&nbsp;in 1976. One of the staff&nbsp;says &#8220;<i>I remember the excitement of the staff&nbsp;exchanging cramped facilities, dark corridors, and Victorian plumbing for a huge new workplace with masses of new books, an expansive staff room and a LIFT!&#8221;<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Abingdon Library&nbsp;was celebrating&nbsp;National Library Day with some special events today. There was also a new display upstairs showing the library in days gone by. On the screen of the&nbsp;microfiche reader was the Abingdon Herald of Saturday 18th April 1896, the first edition since Abingdon Free Library was officially opened. An unnamed reporter described the scene [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-library"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8255\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}