The Picton Reading Room, Liverpool Central Library

This is the Picton Reading room that I mentioned in yesterday's blip. Well, at least, it is a part of it, since it is a circular building with a domed roof and a central circular glass window at the top. It was opened in 1879 and was the first electrically lit public library in the U.K. It has incredible acoustics; you can literally hear a pin drop and as a result it is a wonderfully quiet reading room.

At present it houses an art work by the Japanese artist Aiko Miyanaga, which is a part of the Liverpool biennial. Some of it can just be seen around the central pillar and is comprised of naphthalene keys encased in books made from resin. Other keys cast in naphthalene are slowly disappearing into the air- a bit like the 11 local libraries that are due for closure. The artist, though, would not have known this, so must have had other meanings in mind.