Last week we continued our look at the history of the library service in High Wycombe.

We considered the near forty year period from when the first purpose-built library in the town opened in 1932 up to the retirement of Borough Librarian John Mayes in 1971. 

He had done a great deal to develop the library service in the town but was from “the old school”, so that workplace division was ingrained in the staff.

Mr Mayes’s successor was Ivan Sparkes, who not only was a qualified librarian but had experience outside libraries.

This included a year-long lecture tour of the USA speaking about the history of English settlements.

Under Mr Sparkes the old working practices were swept away and the library layout brought up-to-date.

The Reading Room in the temporary building was closed, and moved to the first floor of the main building.

A Music and Languages Library was opened on December 10 1973, from which records could be borrowed on payment of an annual subscription of £1.70.

On April 1, 1974 High Wycombe Library (but not the Museum) was transferred to Buckinghamshire County Council. This brought about centrally-inspired improvements to the efficiency of the library service.

Wycombe’s first qualified Children’s Librarian was appointed on April 1 1974.

Over the next few years new children’s stock appeared and story times, activity sessions and visits by authors began to take place.

A county project to computerise the system for the cataloguing and circulation of the stock was begun and Wycombe was one of the first libraries to go online in 1985.

That same year came the initial developments which eventually culminated in a new, larger library for Wycombe, but not for another 22 years!

Ivan Sparkes retired on March 31, 1987 after sixteen years in post. At that time he was not only Head Librarian, employed by the county council, curator of Wycombe Museum, employed by the district council, but also clerk to the Charter Trustees. 

In the latter role he appeared at the ceremonies of the town, such as events like Mayor-weighing.

He also found time to write seventeen books, mostly on the history of High Wycombe and its furniture.

His successor was Peter Mussett, an experienced librarian, whose impression on first seeing Wycombe Library was similar to the two previous incumbents – “Walking into the library on the day of my interview was like stepping back in time”. 

Under his tutelage the library was refurbished, the stock diversified to include CDs and video, so that annual issues continued to expand, reaching 900,000 by the mid-1990’s.

A programme of outside speakers was introduced, which included the likes of Colin Dexter, Claire Rayner and of course Terry Pratchett.

Peter Mussett moved from Wycombe Library to take a position at the County Headquarters in 1997, to be succeeded by Tina Cuthbert from 1997-2000, with Elaine Collier succeeding her until 2005. 

It was when Elaine was in post that the plans for a new library in Wycombe finally became a reality. The designs for the library in the Eden Centre were formulated and put into practice.

Elaine established a Friends of the library organisation, whose first task was to contribute to the planning of the internal layout of the new building, by providing a users-perspective.

The Friends then assisted with the the arrangements for moving all the stock and equipment from the library in Queen Victoria Road. 

In the newsletter published by Friends in the Autumn of 2007 it was reported that “Very good progress is being made with the new £5M state-of-the-art library that is being built as part of the Eden Project.

The new library will cover over 2500sq ms, making it more than twice the size of the existing library”.

Reporting on the move itself the newsletter stated: “No-one could ever say working in libraries was dull or routine!

"Imagine moving home with over 90,000 books, CDs, and DVDs, assorted precious items and 60 members of your family! [Before the move] We closed the old library for 6 weeks, running a limited service from a mobile library.

"It took a whole week for the removal company to pack-up the old library and deliver the hundreds of crates to the new building in Eden. 

"All we had to do then was to unpack everything and put it in the right place. We couldn’t have managed without the many hardworking volunteers who put in many hours of effort, ensuring that we were able to open looking like an organised library and not like the lost luggage department at Terminal Five!”

The library was formally opened by HRH Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, on Wednesday July 9 2008.

The Friends newsletter, reporting on HRH’s visit said: “The Earl of Wessex is outgoing and friendly, putting those he meets at ease by preferring informality.

"He launched into the library visit by talking to the staff on the ground floor desk, which rather surprised them!”

The library is currently celebrating its 10th anniversary in its new home in Eden.

The celebrations begin on Saturday June 23 with the following programme:

11am, Story-telling for under 5’s

11.30am – 11.45, Fancy dress parade of children depicting book-characters

12pm, Cutting of the birthday cake and awarding of prizes

12pm to 2pm, Cake & tea/coffee for all

On Thursday, July 5 at 7.30pm there will be a talk by author and TV screenwriter Robert Thorogood, creator of the hit TV series Death in Paradise. 

Doors open at 7pm, when there will be a drinks reception.

Tickets are £10 and must be booked in advance at the library desk or online at: bit.ly/HWY10RobertThorogood