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Also known as Kirkwall Library, Orkney Subscription Library. Located in Kirkwall. Founded in 1683. Type of library: Subscription. Collection: Moved elsewhere.
Address: Kirkwall, Orkney
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Library description

The Orkney Library was founded in 1683 when William Baikie bequeathed his "eight score" (i.e. 160) volumes to the "Publeck Liberarie of Kirkwall", then held at St Magnus Cathedral. This collection was largely made up (c. 90%) of religious books. Baikie’s original bequest became a public library thanks to to Rev. James Wallace, who arranged for the Presbytery to take the books ‘for a publick liberarie’, and
added his own collection (30 books and 12 volumes of pamphlets) to the library to increase it. Little changed until 1815, when "several gentlemen in Orkney ... expressed a wish for the establishment of a Public Library in Kirkwall". After a meeting on 17 March, 1815, to consider how this might be achieved, the Orkney Library was founded as a subscription library under the following rules:

"In order to make the Library accessible to all who may wish to become members, the annual subscription shall only be half a Guinea, and no one shall be bound to subscribe
for more than one year; but none shall be received as subscribers who are not approved of by the Committee; and whenever any contributor shall cause to pay his annual subscription, he shall cease to be a member for the Society." (Orkney Library & Archive CO5/100/1: Minute book - Subscribers to the Library 1815–1857, p. 1)

The records recorded in our database date from this time onwards, ending in 1824.

Orkney's borrowers' registers continue well beyond the end of our period, continuing until 1868 (Orkney Archives CO5/100/6, CO5/100/7, CO5/100/8, CO5/100/9). 

The collection is now held at the University of Aberdeen.

Borrower description

According to the subscription book, borrowers were mainly drawn from the gentry, and professional classes, with a majority of ministers. 52 borrowers were male, 20 were female. Of the 52 male borrowers, 20 were ministers. The 32 non-ministers were almost all major landowners from across Orkney, including the politician and historian Malcolm Laing (1762–1818) and the lawyer, author and Sheriff-Substitute of Orkney, Alexander Peterkin (1780–1846). These borrowers are elsewhere described as "the elite of Orkney society".

Holding description

The collection in our period consisted of Baikie’s original bequest, bequests from later ministers and a fairly large number of items purchased since 1815. The original 297 items marked 'Synod of Orkney', which were largely works of Theology, Classics and Philosophy, were joined after 1815 by works of History, Travel, Fiction, Poetry, Drama and Periodicals, as well as further works of Philosophy. The preponderance of the collection was works of Fiction, Drama and Criticism (Periodicals). The collection by 1824 comprised approximately 1500 works. The collection was thus relatively small, but the majority of it was fairly up-to-date. The subscribers clearly wished to have the latest works bought, and periodicals circulated well amongst the borrowers.

Sources

• Other: Contemporary Catalogue: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/wgd2cunm/items?canvas=3
• Matriculation records: CO5/100/1 Orkney Education Authority : 1815 -1857 The Orkney Library Minute book of subscribers
• Accessions records: CO5/100/2 Orkney Education Authority :1820 - 1832 The Orkney Library Notebook of books requested, bought, requiring binding, ordered etc.
• Other: Institution, Rules & Catalogue of the Orkney Library (Edinburgh: John Moir, 1816)

Secondary sources

Myrtle Anderson-Smith, 'The Bibliotheck of Kirkwall’, Northern Scotland, 15 (1995), 127–134

J. B. Craven, Descriptive Catalogue of the Bibliotheck of Kirkwall 1683, with a Notice of the Founder, William Baikie, M.A., of Holland (Kirkwall: [n.p.], 1897)

Paul Kaufman, ‘Discovering the Oldest Publick Bibliotheck of the Northern Isles’, Library Review, 23:7 (1972), 285–287 

David M. N. Tinch, The Orkney Library: a short history 1683-1983 (Kirkwall: Orkney Library for Orkney Islands Council, 1983)

Sources outside the period

CO5/100/1A Orkney Education Authority : 1854 - 1890
Minute book of the Kirkwall Literary & Scientific Association and Orkney Library [Amalgamated with Orkney Library 1858]

CO5/100/6 Orkney Education Authority : 1830 - 1835
The Orkney Library Register of books borrowed

Orkney Library & Archive OCR 4/8, Kirkwall Presbytery Minutes 1738–1781

CO5/100/7 Orkney Education Authority : 1832 - 1849
The Orkney Library Register of books borrowed

CO5/100/8 Orkney Education Authority : 1849 - 1861
The Orkney Library Register of books borrowed

CO5/100/9 Orkney Education Authority : 1862 - 1868
The Orkney Library Register of books borrowed

CO5/100/10 Orkney Education Authority : The Orkney Library 1855 - 1861
Account book, including lists of Subscribers, Kirkwall Literary & Scientific Association