We are delighted to be able to offer a free virtual tour of our lovely building, thanks to 360 degree filming undertaken by Creative Manchester, part of the University of Manchester, in spring 2021.
Our founders Eddie and Ruth Frow built up the Library originally in their Old Trafford home. By the 1980s their house was at bursting point and so the City of Salford Council agreed to house their magnificent library in a Victorian building, a former nurses' home called Jubilee House on Salford Crescent. You can find out more about the building itself here. The collection moved here in 1987, and has been open for everyone freely to come and use ever since. Even if you're not able to visit you can now explore our building virtually for yourselves - come and take a look...
Click on the 'play video' arrow below to load up the system and then start your tour. You can click the circles on the floor to navigate your way round the building, or jump between floors using the 'floor selector' icon at the bottom left of the tour screen. And if you drag your mouse left or right then your view of each space can indeed be 360 degrees. If you get lost there's also a 'floor plan' option at the bottom left of the screen which can help you navigate your way around.
We've put lots of little white/green explanatory 'labels' around the place to give you further information about each room, too.
We'd love to know what you think of this experiment - please let us know by emailing us at info @ wcml.org.uk
WCML is very grateful to the Institute for Cultural Practices at the University of Manchester for offering the technology, resources and staff capacity to produce, free of charge, 3D scans of our building. We acknowledge also assistance from Arts Council England, via Manchester City of Literature, for a grant, as part of the Festival of Libraries, which saw Oliver James Lomax make video recordings of some of his poetry to incorporate into our virtual tour.
