Description: A documentary about the history of Whitechapel Library in Tower Hamlets, the 'Passmore Edwards Library'. The video features interviews with Mr Kanai Datta (the Ethnic Minorities Librarian), Mr Albert Wilshire (a former librarian at Whitechapel) and Annette Kinnear (the deputy district Librarian). Annette Kinnear discusses the problems with the library building, how they impact on staff and users of the library, the numbers of books issued and staff facilities. Mr Wilshire speaks about his experience of the Whitechapel library from being a user as a child in 1930s Stepney, to starting work there in 1941, and the wartime opening hours (Mr Wilshire is filmed at his current place of work, Poplar Library). Mr Kanai Datta talks about adding Bengali, Urdu, Chinese, Somali, Vietnamese and other language books to the library collection, using the local census data to work out the commonest languages used in the area. The video stresses the importance of the library for migrants over the years including the local Jewish and Bangladeshi populations. The interviews are intercut with film of the inside and outside of the library and general views of Whitechapel Road.