Swiss at 60

Camden Library Service teamed up with oral history film making specialists digital-works to explore the history of the remarkable Swiss Cottage Library celebrating its 60th year.

The landmark library was designed by renowned architect Sir Basil Spence and is considered one of the most ambitious library designs in the UK and as one of Spence’s most accomplished civic buildings. It was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on November 10th 1964. In 1997 English Heritage gave the library a Grade II listing.

Over the past sixty years it has welcomed countless people from the local community to come and borrow a book, to read the paper, to revise for exams, or simply to be in the space. It has hosted exhibitions, arts and literacy groups and many more. People have brought their young children to the children’s library, those children have grown up and now bring their own children. Researchers have used the archives that were once housed there and people still come from far afield just to look at the building. More recently it has been used as a warm hub.

Over the years many people have worked at the library. Some starting their careers at 16 and then staying for decades while others have spent shorter periods working there. People have met and married partners while working there. Some who visited as children got their first jobs shelving books.

The last 60 years have seen changes in how the library functions from the old hand stamped books to contactless borrowing and the rise of digital borrowing. There was once a record library where borrowers could find LPs. Where once absolute silence was the rule, now some noise is permitted! There have been several re-designs internally, notably with the children’s library. A low carbon retrofit in 2023 has made the library much more energy efficient to meet the challenges of global warming.

For this project Camden Library Service teamed up with oral history specialists digital-works to explore the history from the perspective of the workers as well as the library users. Oral history interviews were recorded for the project with the full interviews given to Camden Archives. These interviews were also filmed and used with archive footage and images to create a documentary film.

This project has been made possible with funding from the Community Infrastructure Levy and the Primrose Hill Ward Councillors.