There was literally standing room only in the reading room in Bolton Library when this photo was taken in November 1961.

Bolton Library, 1961

All the day’s newspapers were available for folk to read free of charge but sitting down was out of the question.

The Bolton Evening News reported at the time that a request had been made for the desks to be lowered so that the elderly could sit to read the newspapers but that this plea had been rejected by the borough’s libraries committee.

It’s interesting to see some of the titles available to library users. The Bolton Evening News was there along with the Bolton Journal and Bolton Standard.