On Ashton Street, in the northern part of the University of Liverpool’s city centre campus, the Harold Cohen Library has been a fixture of academic life since 1938. The building’s frontage is clad in Portland stone, and above the entrance stands a sculpture entitled ‘Learning’ by Eric Kennington – also Portland stone – depicting a female figure holding a lamp and key before an open book. The library is a Grade II listed building, designed by architect Harold Dod.
The man behind the library
The library owes its existence to a donation of £100,000 from Harold Cohen, chairman of Lewis’s department store and the son of a former Lord Mayor of Liverpool. The building was opened on 21 May 1938 in the presence of Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin. Cohen himself never saw it completed – he died suddenly in 1936 on the very day he was due to lay the foundation stone and receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University. The degree was awarded to him posthumously, the only time in the University’s history that an honorary degree has been conferred after death.
Collections and resources
When the library opened, it held around 200,000 volumes. That figure has since grown to over 500,000, housed on 12 miles of shelving. Staff numbers have risen from the original 15 to 110. The library now supports students in the Faculty of Science & Engineering and the Faculty of Health & Life Sciences, covering medical, dental and veterinary science courses among others. Eight computer centres and the Wolfson training suite are also within the building. The Harold Cohen Library is a member of Libraries Together: Liverpool Learning Partnership – a group that evolved from the Liverpool Libraries Group, formed in 1990 – through which registered readers at any member library can access the collections of the others.