According to the Encyclopaedia of Library and Information Science, Morley founded the children’s library after learning that Nottingham’s Central Library (then housed in the Arkwright Building on Shakespeare Street) was only open to those aged 15 and over. A 1937 pamphlet in Nottingham Local Studies Library reveals that the building was rented from the Trustees of the Holy Trinity Church and served as a children’s library for exactly 50 years, before closing in 1932.

While some sources suggest that the library was originally named “The Library for Boys and Girls”, Allen’s Illustrated Guide to Nottingham published in 1888 describes it as “The Children’s Free Public Lending Library and Reading Room” and notes that it was open between 4.00 – 8.00 pm on weekdays. Children over the age of 7 were allowed to borrow two books a week, at no cost, from a collection of over three thousand “carefully chosen volumes” donated by Morley.

Although juvenile reading rooms had already been opened as part of public libraries in both Westminster (1857) and Cambridge (1872) the library in Shakespeare Street was the first children’s public lending library in the UK and is widely recognised as having set the standard for children’s libraries both in the UK and abroad. The International Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature (1996) has this to say in its chapter on children’s libraries:

“Perhaps the most outstanding was the Library for Boys and Girls in Nottingham, which was regarded as a pioneer in respect of its accommodation, its balanced collection of contemporary children’s fiction, furnishings and general ethos.”

Samuel Morley was ahead of his time in recognising the enormous social benefits of encouraging a love of reading at an early age. There is now a wealth of research showing that children who read for pleasure on a regular basis do significantly better in maths, vocabulary and spelling than those who rarely read, giving them an academic advantage that lasts their whole lives. For many children, establishing a reading habit would be impossible without access to a well-stocked, well-run children’s library like the one first created by Samuel Morley.

Nottingham can take tremendous pride in the pioneering role it had in promoting children’s literature and literacy and I think Morley’s library deserves commemorating with an official blue plaque.