P

P

P

PP

P

P

P

SportsCentre

St Salvator’sQuad

WestSands

East Sands

St AndrewsCastle St Andrews

Cathedral

AgnesBlackadder

Hall

AndrewMelville Hall

David RussellApartments

and Fife Park

DeansCourt

AlbanyPark

UniversityHall

BotanicGardens

Martyrs Kirk:Special Collections Napier Reading Room,

Thompson Research Reading Room

A91 – DUN

DEE

AND

LEU

CHAR

S

ARG

YLE

STR

EET

NORTH S

TREE

T

SOU

TH S

TREE

T

HEP

BURN

GAR

DEN

S

HEPBU

RN G

ARDEN

S

LARGO ROAD

A917ST MARY STREET

CITY ROADWest

Sands

East Sands

AgnesBlackadder

Hall

AndrewMelville Hall

DO

UBLED

YKES ROAD

MAR

KET

STR

EET

THE

SCO

RES

GREYFRIARS GARDENS

MURRAY PARK

BELL STREET

QUEENS GARDENS

ST M

ARY’

S PL

ACE

David RussellApartments

and Fife Park

DeansCourt

AlbanyPark

UniversityHall

BotanicGardens

ABBEY STREET

Cinema

Library

Library Annexeand Museum Store

King JamesLibrary

ByreTheatre

MUSA

Students’Association

BusStation

The Gateway

Aquarium

Royal & AncientGolf Course

PoliceStationPolice

Station

Hospital

St AndrewsCastle St Andrews

Cathedral

LeisureCentre

SportsCentre

St Salvator’sQuad

YoungerHall

Martyrs Kirk:Special Collections Napier Reading Room,

Thompson Research Reading Room

ABBEY

WAL

K

A915

BUCHANAN G

ARDENS

0 200m

SCALE

300m100m

The KingJames Library

www.st-andrews.ac.uk/library/contact/departmental/kingjames

Designed and printed by Print & Design, University of St Andrews, July 2016.

Cover image by Lightbox Creative. All images copyright the University of St Andrews.

The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland: No SC013532.

The collections of books and manuscripts accumulated during the last 600 years, including the foundation gifts, are still held by the Library and are available for use. For more information, please email speccoll@st-andrews.ac.uk.

The King James Library is a working Library. Your consideration of it during your visit as a quiet space for study is very much appreciated.

Access to the King James Library is up a flight of stairs and no lift is available in this historic building. The lower level reading room and the College grounds are fully accessible.

The King James Library, in St Mary’s College LibraryUniversity of St AndrewsSouth StreetKY16 9JUT: 01334 462855E: smcl@st-andrews.ac.uk

Opening hours during University term time:Monday to Friday 9:00 - 17:00 – Admission Free

The carved stone panel on the South Street facade of the building which formerly housed the Principal of St Mary’s College is thought to be commemorative of the foundation of the Common University Library by King James VI and I in 1612.

1645-46: Scottish Parliament sits in the Common School and takes decisions ‘for the benefit of the

Library’, leaving its name on Parliament Hall

The Library

The King James Library is one of the jewels in the crown of the University of St Andrews. Founded in 1612, the Common Library of the University was located on the upper floor of a fine building which forms the northern edge of St Mary’s College quadrangle, above a Common School, now Parliament Hall.

The University’s first book-room, in the Faculty of Arts building on this site, was set up in 1456. The colleges of the University had their own collections of books and manuscripts before the Common Library was established, and they were not completely integrated until 1843. In 1612 the vision to found a new ‘common library’ for the whole university was realised thanks to the patronage of King James VI & I.

The building was roofed thanks to a Royal donation in 1617. A gift from covenanter and alumnus Alexander Henderson in 1642 allowed the building to open as a Library and the first librarian was appointed in 1643. The upper hall of the Library was the place where distinguished scientist James Gregory, first Regius Professor of Mathematics (1668-1673) worked. A meridian line was placed in the floor in 1726 to commemorate his work. This is continued outside across the pavement of South Street.

When Samuel Johnson (author of the Dictionary of the English Language) visited St Andrews in 1773, he called the newly renovated library an ‘elegant and luminous’ chamber.

No longer the main University Library building, the King James Library currently holds books for the School of Divinity.

The Space for BooksThroughout its long history, the library has undergone many renovations and extensions. Like most libraries, it has had to cope with increasing demands on space as its collections have grown.

For example, as a copyright library, the University Library was entitled to claim a copy of every book published in the British Isles between 1710-1836. Collections have always been further enriched by donations and purchase.

In 1765-1767 the height of the walls in the King James Library was increased so that the upper gallery could be added. Windows overlooking South Street were covered over with shelves to hold more books.

This eased the pressure on space for a while, but it was only the first of several extensions, including a handsome new building constructed immediately to the south, thanks to the generosity of donors such as Andrew Carnegie. Eventually, when space for further expansion ran out, the decision was taken to build a new University Library building on North Street, which opened in 1976. Despite these changes, the King James Library remains an ‘elegant and luminous’ chamber designed around its contents.

A 1529 edition of The Works of Seneca from

the Royal Collection. Roy PA6661.A2B29

St Mary’s College from South Street, circa 1845. The Library had been extended in 1829, when the archway entrance was moved to its present position. The porch to the Principal’s House was removed in 1891.

Drawing of the Library building’s exterior, circa 1767 by John Oliphant. OLI-13.

1889-90: Extension to the Library

1612: University Library

is founded

1710: Copyright library

status is given

1765-67: Extension to the Library

1829-30: 39 foot extension

added

1976: New University

Library opens

1643: University Library

is completed

2012: Main Library redevelopment

completed

2015: King James Library furniture upgraded. More

study spaces added.

2013: Martyrs Kirk Research Library redevelopment completed

and opened.

1773: Dr Johnson visits

the Library

1668-74: James Gregory works in

the Library

1456: First known reference to a library of the Faculty of Arts

1642: Students begin to pay Library fees; Alexander Henderson gives £1,000 to complete the Library

1687: New Library catalogue lists over

1,500 volumes

1826: Library catalogue published

by Tullis Press of Cupar

1836: An annual allowance replaces

Copyright Act privileges

1969: University Court sets up Project Committee

for new Library

1907-08: Extension (first of three) funded by

Andrew Carnegie

1566: Mary, Queen of Scots, intends to leave books to the University if she

dies in childbirth

1896: Oliphant’s short story ‘The Library Window’ published

in Blackwood’s Magazine

1416: Faculty of Arts redirects funds from purchasing books

to obtaining a mace

The Library was built on the site of the chapel of the medieval College of St John. Carved stones from the earlier building are incorporated into this elevation.

The KingJames Library