11 June marks the 40th year since Education Minister, Dr Philip Muscat, opened the new Central Public Library at Beltissebh. 1983 was a time of rapid expansion for the public library as 36 branch libraries had replaced the old district libraries and school libraries were being set up in all state schools by its Schools Library Service section. Originally the new Central Public Library had been housed, as some might remember, in the yard at the Police Headquarters. That is due to mark its 50th anniversary in 2024.
It was obvious from the start that the Police GHQ site was too small as the original thought of 200,000 loans per annum in actual fact became half a million from the first year of operation.
A number of places around Floriana were considered as an alternative site. The choice, some would say Hobson's choice, fell on the remaining part of Block A of the Msida Bastion Married Quarters. The rest of the buildings in the area had been destroyed during the war. The Lands Department moved out and the library moved in.
One needs to keep in mind that current plans for the area included the idea of moving all government department there. This never materialised and the hill leading to Valletta became a drawback. There was an attempt to re-route the Valletta circular bus service but even this came to an untimely end.
Block A was made up of a number of flats, totally useless as lending areas for a public library. At a time when the government was not erecting any buildings for the simple reason that it had taken over an enormous number of buildings following the withdrawal of British armed forces, that hurdle was overcome.
It was decided to use the foundations of the outer walls of the previous building to erect three halls for the 100,000 book-lending stock and one for a study area with space for 60 persons. The work of excavating, building and fitting the building took 14 months. One has to express a profound appreciation to the Public Works Department, Police personnel and the Education Department's maintenance unit for their efforts, at times beyond the call of duty, to get the work done. The contractor's workers need to also be congratulated for a job well done. The library staff worked tirelessly to keep the service going even during the move of the books to the new site. Moreover, book-lending from all sites had risen to 755,000 by 1982.
Joseph Boffa, a qualified librarian, was responsible for the public and school libraries at the time