What an amazing and historic landmark! I would recommend anyone tour through the Library. The…read morearchitecture is beautiful and the rare manuscripts and artifacts they house are incredible. They are having a special display of one of Shakespeare's plays, one of the oldest New Testaments, even artifacts from King Nebuchadnezzar's palace. They will all be on display which will be quite amazing to see. This is a must see in Manchester! Truly amazing how it has stood the test of time.

Love spending time in libraries while on holiday (vacation) Stunning late-Victorian neo-Gothic…read morelibrary , John Rylands Library opened at the turn of the 20th century and is a gorgeous remnant of Manchester. Potter-heads would appreciate the look and feel inside the library is inspired the design for Hogwarts. I'm not sure if the Factory Records exhibit is still on display, but I'm a huge fan of Factory Records bands (ie. New Order, Joy Division, Happy Mondays etc.) and bands that came out of Manchester, the Smiths, James, Buzzcocks, The Fall to name few. It was an experience seeing original handwritten lyrics, instruments played, old punk zines, photos and badges on display.

It took over an hour just to be seen and there was nobody downstairs, when the police responded to…read moremy incident they a few days or even to a week just to respond (I mean seriously?), when I tried to file a complaint, it took 80 characters just to explain where it happened and it wouldn't let me progress (I'm being for real), and I get that nobody isn't an immediate danger but it's extremely late when it takes a week just to address somebody on a situation regarding violence or domestic abuse! One of the worst Salford services I've encountered!

Well, I can't say I found myself here in the nicest of circumstances. No I did not get dragged here…read moreby the police, shame on you for even considering that, I've never been in trouble with the police in my life. No, a housemate of mine in the past was having issues with some... unwanted attention, let's put it as lightly as possible, and I accompanied her here so that she could file a report. It's hard to take the place seriously. From the outside it looks like where Noddy would live crossed with a shopping mall designed by Crayola. It's completely ridiculous. It doesn't help that it's located right next to a block of student flats and Salford Shopping City (city? CENTRE), although that did make me feel a bit safer when I lived at the former and shopped at the latter. But upon entry we were made to wait. A lot. I understand this, it works the same with hospitals. In fact it was the people in the waiting room that made the experience. My poor housemate had to report the nature of her visit in public, at the reception desk, and of course as she described it she burst into tears. Cold, hard receptionist-who-sees-this-every-day just mindlessly jotted everything down while I did that endless back-rubbing people do to crying people. And then a lady in the waiting room handed my friend some tissues. Aw. She might have been in there for kicking babies like footballs, but hey, at least she was nice. Sensitive. Needless to say the experience was a washout. We didn't get to speak to a real police person, however it did eventually come to light that the culprit had been taken in for interview at some point, so at least filing the report had some kind of outcome. All I remember was taking my housemate to the nearby Tesco to grab some curry and then eating it at my apartment along with shedloads of ice cream to make her feel better. Rubbish and overly large police station, nil points. Ace friend that I am, million points.

The layout of this library is pretty similar to that of Chorlton Library and Didsbury Library - the…read moreonly thing that struck me about this library were the signs warning customers that thieves are in operation in the library. They were especially abundant in the wonderful little area where children can read and play. This upset me, as it was not something I had to worry about on my weekly trips to the library as a kid. So be careful. As it is a Manchester library, you can use the same library card as the Central Library and the other aforementioned libraries and expect the same facilities, eg one hour's free Internet use per day (although there are not as many PCs as in Chorlton Library so be prepared to wait). The library is generally quiet, but not silent, so it's a good place to work if you can no longer stand your housemates' music or you find yourself getting distracted by the Jeremy Kyle show, and you can't be bothered to trek to the University library or into town. In the entrance there is also a useful selection of leaflets about events and goings on at local theatres and museums, and a board which is generally used to advertise English/Spanish/guitar lessons.

I love the architecture of Withington Library alone never mind the mind altering contents…read more In fact this building was designed by Manchester's first city architect (Henry Price) who also designed Manchester's famous Victoria baths as well as Didsbury library a few miles down the road. I couldn't begin to describe it's true style, but it's frontage at least harks back to the classic Roman/Greek style (of course not on the scale of Manchester's main library). It has recently reopened after a 3 month refurbishment although, and perhaps rightly so, they haven't really done a great deal to it bar restore it's natural charm. If you look up as you enter the building you'll be treated to a wonderful glass dome above your head: in fact I've only just discovered this so whether it was 'reanimated' during it's recent clean up I'm not entirely sure. Inside they have an extensive section of computing; a large children's area; books available in many, many languages e.g. Arabic, Bengali, French, Gujarati, Persian, Polish, Chineseand others, easily creating for the area's large cross section of society. There is also a good computer suite (always busy!) for accessing the net and studying should you need to. I tend to hire my Murakami books here and if they don't stock the title you're after they'll take your details and order it in for you. As it happens a guy who works there is fellow Murakami fan so he's gotten most of his back catalogue for me. Alongside the books they have a fairly extensive music collection (mainly CD) and DVD & Video's again they'll order in anything you require (within reason : ) ). I found a bit of Philip Glass and Brain Dance electronica, next to the likes of Bach, Hip Hop and Sade (she always finds her way into libraries doesn't she?). I might even take up the offer of ordering in Lost which I gave up on Sky last yearif there's a cultural drought on I may just pop into the library and hire for a few weeks. Open till 8 most nights of the week but closes early afternoon on Thursday. There is a book reading group, a MP's surgery and various coffee mornings held there too.

From the outside this little police station looks just as a police station should - just like one…read moredid, before the invasion of the gargantuan criminal justice centres. I promise you, we're not a bad bunch, but my housemates have had fairly frequent contact with the local cops from this station. First of all my housemate had to visit this police station to report the violent conduct of an acquaintance. Then our house was burgled. Then my housemate witnessed a car being broken into. Standard stuff, but each and every time the reports were taken seriously by the local police who visited our house on every occasion. They were always quick to respond and seemed keen to record as many details as possible, unlike police I have encountered in other (probably more crime-ridden) areas of the city and country. The local police have also been known to knock on every door down our street to give residents the chance to raise any issues they have, they frequently post us letters telling us be careful as our area has been targeted by burglars and they put up signs alerting people that their cars are likely to be broken into if they leave them on the street. And M21 is supposed to be one of the 'good' Manchester postcodes! All in all, top marks to the cops of Chorlton!