Although the Library has a historical appearence it is less than a century old, as it was built in 1905. During the end of the nineteenth century, King's Lynn was expanding quickly and the facilities that has supported the town were becoming inadequate. A library was built in 1884, the Stanley Library, but by the turn of the twentieth century it could not cope with the town's needs. A local business man, Andrew Carnegie, was persuaded to donate £5,000 to fund the construction of King's Lynn's present library. Although the library appears to be quite small, it is still Lynn's main library and is more than capable of serving the town's needs.