There was also a need for a library because the existing library, founded in 1758, was not considered to be adequate. The founders of the club produced a prospectus entitled Outlines of a Plan for a Library and Newsroom, which proposed "to procure a regular supply of newspapers, both town and country, all the periodical publications of any value, and all the pamphlets that have reference to subjects of local or general polity or commerce".[1] This required subscribers to shares in the 'Institution' and hence the names 'Proprietor' are used rather than 'club' and 'member'; all 'members' on joining still sign the original Share Register and the limited number of 500 means that all members can trace their predecessors in this. The founder subscribers commissioned the local architect John Foster to design a building for them in Church Street.[2] This opened on 1 January 1799, and its library opened on 1 May 1800.[1] The early members of the club included "entrepreneurs, slavery-abolitionists, free-thinkers, and political radicals, who regarded themselves as the commercial and intellectual champions of Liverpool".[3]