There was a football match on the Saturday I visited Sheffield so I had to pass about 40 police officers on my seven minute walk from the station to the library. There were even police on horses – I had to resist the urge to point out they were on a cycle path. It made for a rather intimidating atmosphere so I was pleased to find the sanctuary of the library.

It’s a large building with a museum, gallery, café and local studies facility. The stairwell had a very interesting fabric exhibit cascading down – reminiscent of birds.

Various sections of the library were on different floors behind grand doors so I didn’t venture in to all of them such as the local studies library or the computer room. The main library had a modern entrance and then sturdy wooden bookcases with plenty of book stock.

There’s a brilliant article on the BBC website about the history of the building from when it celebrated 75 years in 2009. It’s now a grade II listed building but was cutting edge in 1934 with a ventilation and vacuuming system.

There were plans to build a hotel within the library building and build a new library but that seems to have stalled.