Edinburgh Central Library,, 7-9 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, EH1 1EG

Today there are 28 public libraries in the Scottish capital[2] but, as the first, the creation of Central Library was funded with £50, 000 from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. At the opening ceremony a telegram from Carnegie was read out stating: "We trust that this Library is to grow in usefullness year after year, and prove one of the most potent agencies for the good of the people for all time to come." The site selected for the library was the former home of Sir Thomas Hope, 1st Baronet Hope of Craighall, advocate for King Charles I. The structure, built in 1616, was demolished in March of 1887 to make way for the library. The lintel from Hope's home, bearing the carved inscription TECUM HABITA 1616 from the fourth satire of Persius, is preserved above an inner doorway of the library. Carnegie's funding was initially an offer of £25, 000 in 1886 which was doubled, overcoming prior opposition to the establishment of a public library, the city—last of those to do so in Scotland—adopted the Public Libraries Act and on 9 July 1887, Carnegie laid the foundation stone of architect George Washington Browne's French Renaissance-styled building. Records for 1890, the first full year the library was open, show that over 440, 000 book loans were issued; current records indicate that today, over a century on, the library issues over 500, 000 book loans annually In November 2017, on the 100th anniversary of her death, a memorial to Dr Elsie Inglis, the founder of the Scottish Women's Hospitals, was unveiled at Central Library