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Status
Received: on time
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Income
£1.6M
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Spending
£1.5M
- Charity no. 104564
- Date registered. 22/04/2016
Public benefits
The Linen Hall Library aims to promote, sustain and increase the knowledge and understanding of the general public, both locally and internationally, by collecting, curating and providing access to an historic library and cultural centre with unique strengths in Irish and Local Studies. The direct benefits which flow from this purpose include
cultural enrichment and enhanced knowledge and understanding of Irish and Local Studies amongst all those members of the public accessing the library and participating in cultural events. The indirect benefits which flow from this purpose include the promotion of Belfast and Northern Ireland as a tourist destination. These benefits can be demonstrated through feedback from users of the Library and from statistics collected on footfall and numbers of people participating in cultural events. This purpose does not lead to harm. The charity’s beneficiaries are members of the general public, both of Northern Ireland and globally. There is private benefit flowing from this purpose in the experience and training in good governance provided to the governors of the library, however this benefit is incidental and necessary to ensure that benefits are provided to the general public. Subscribing members of the library provide the charity with subscription income in return for additional borrowing rights and discounts on goods and services, however the net effect of membership is enhanced financial sustainability for the library and its purpose.
What your organisation does
The Linen Hall Library (the Library), an independent subscription library, was founded in May 1788 as the Belfast Reading Society by a group of ‘worthy artisans’. As the city of Belfast grew larger, the Society’s ranks were added to by the merchant classes and it was renamed the Belfast Society for Promoting Knowledge with the mission statement:
“The object of this society is the collection of an extensive library, philosophical apparatus and such productions of nature and art as tend to improve the mind and excite a spirit of genuine enquiry…” The Library maintains and continues to develop an unrivalled collection of material archiving the history of Belfast, Northern Ireland and Ireland. The collections include eighteenth century Belfast books and newspapers; ephemera relating to the Northern Ireland political situation from the 1960s to the present day; the Theatre and Performing Arts Archive; the Gibson Collection in relation to Burns and a large Irish Language Collection. These are only a small number of the collections we hold. Through this we promote education through lectures and workshops and the Library is freely accessible to all. Over the last number of years, the Library has promoted a wide number of arts and cultural programmes and events which appeal to local residents and encourage them to come into the city centre to the Library. It is a shared space.
The charity’s classifications
- The advancement of education
- The advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or science
Who the charity helps
- Children (5-13 year olds)
- General public
- Interface communities
- Language community
- Men
- Mental health
- Older people
- Sexual orientation
- Specific areas of deprivation
- Voluntary and community sector
- Volunteers
- Women
- Youth (14-25 year olds)
How the charity works
- Arts
- Cultural
- Education/training
- General charitable purposes
- Heritage/historical
- Volunteer development