About the Gibson Library

The Gibson Library is an independent, historic library founded in 1832.

The historic collections consist of more than 25,000 volumes, old maps, photographs, newspapers, directories, periodicals and local ephemera.
There is also a research lending collection of more than 12,000 volumes, which is continually added to.

The Gibson Library is a member of the Independent Libraries Association which supports and promotes the importance and work of Britain’s much admired independent libraries and literary institutions.

Once described as a “microcosm of the world’s great libraries”, the Gibson Library’s collections encompass the humanities and are strong in art, literature, biography, theology, genealogy and family history, the history of printing, botanical illustration, archaeology, the history of exploration, maps and atlases and topography.

The Library is still housed in the Grade II-listed building which has been its home since 1853. Its atmospheric Victorian Reading Room attracts both visitors and researchers as well as local residents who make use of it as a quiet place to study.