It's a great Irish institution, and it's in the centre of Belfast. Don't anyone be surprised. The city (it was then hardly much more than an expanded village) which intrigued the southerner Wolfe Tone and some of his friends has had a lively tradition in literature and all the arts. There was a time when Dublin looked down on Belfast's cultural achievements with disdain - or just lack of thought - but no more. The plethora of talent which has manifested itself in the last generation alone is proof. Anyway, the institution referred to is, of course, the Linen Hall Library - earlier the Belfast Society for the Promotion of Knowledge. One thing that is widely known, south of the Border as well as north, is that an early librarian was Tone's friend Thomas Russell, "The Man From God Knows Where" in the immortal ballad of Florence Wilson. Denis Carroll, in his fine biography of the same name, published in 1995 by Gartan, an imprint of the Columba Press, tells of his tenure of office there, his facilitating of Edward Bunting in his great musical collection and other useful services.
But to the current situation. A colourful folder and the Linen Hall Newsletter inform us that the new extension to the building, of which you have heard, will begin at the end of this month and is to be completed by June 2000, when, we are promised, there will be a major Millennium Extension opening festival. The library calls on members and users for patience during a year of restricted service. But the new conditions will give 50 per cent more space for collections, users and staff, a new events area to seat up to 120 people, controlled heating/ cooling facilities for the whole building and a comprehensive computer-based catalogue. And much more. The Heritage Lottery Fund has already given over £2 million. Other funds raised amount to over £850,000, but more is needed - £500,000. This, the Library believes, should come from its members, friends, and the local business community. Dublin businessmen south of the border might see themselves as included.
There is no border to knowledge. Patrons, by the way, are Seamus Heaney, Jennifer Johnston and Barry Douglas.