Studious citizens in the reading room of Keighley Public Library pose for fashionable photographers Hall and Siggers, soon after its opening in 1904.

On the right, next to the white bust of benefactor Andrew Carnegie (Keighley's was the first Carnegie library in England), a uniformed attendant ensures decorous behaviour.

This reading room could seat 150. Just below the ceiling its walls were soon to be embellished with some of Carnegie's favourite quotations, such as "The chief glory of a nation is its authors" and "They are never alone who are accompanied by noble thoughts".

In 1904 it displayed 20 daily newspapers, 80 weeklies, 63 monthly magazines and two quarterlies. The specialist 'Phonetic Journal' on the foreground table is a reminder of Keighley's linguistic interests, for the first Esperanto Society in England had been founded here in 1902.

Early library statistics were endearingly human. For example, among nearly 3,000 readers during its first year were seven journalists, ten policemen, two window-cleaners and 520 'married women, spinsters, juveniles, etc'.