After six months of being confined to cramped quarters, the Alexandra Public Library has returned home — renovated and refreshed.
To allow for the $1.1million refurbishment in June, library staff packed up 600 banana boxes of books for storage and moved to the Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery.
While the library team were grateful for Central Stories staff and volunteers’ willingness to accommodate them, there was no doubt everyone was pleased to have their own spaces again.
Shoehorning into a significantly smaller space with most of the books in storage could have tested the most patient of staff and customers, but Alexandra rose to the challenge.
Library manager Aimee Pieterse said while there had been hard, the temporary measures were also a welcome reminder of the library’s role.
"The past six months have been a real challenge being in a much smaller space," she said.
"But it’s really highlighted for us, regardless of the space, the importance of libraries to the community, and how people embraced the temporary pop-up space, where we were able to continue meeting their needs."
An official opening on Monday morning gave invited guests their first peek at the new interior.
Council group manager community experience David Scoones said the project began as a bit of a pipe dream for staff 14 years ago.
The building had been stripped back to its core and rebuilt within the existing footprint, and the vision of creating a community living room had been achieved.
Some staff had co-opted their children to help, and a special thanks had to go to partners who had managed at home alone while the team put in many, many hours getting everything ready for the reopening, he said.
The new-style building was a blend of a traditional library with shelves of books and magazines, while catering for those using more modern, electronic ways of relaxing, reading and researching.
While there was a self-service option, the librarians’ desk was still at the forefront of the library entry.
The children’s section had been moved around the corner and was a colourful and comfortable area for reading, playing and story time.
Upstairs there were lush couches for relaxing, which had the added bonus of power and USB points built-in for those wanting to use laptops or phones.
The shape of the stairwell divider upstairs reflected the silhouette of the hills viewed from the library building.
Downstairs new shelving and carpeting made for a calm and relaxing atmosphere.
The biggest difference downstairs was the addition of a public toilet.
Ms Pieterse said the library was the heart of the community and the redesigned space allowed for both the traditional and evolving role of the library.
"It offers a flexible space for our community to connect, continue lifelong learning, relax and hopefully a place that inspires all those that walk through the door."
In addition to improving the library experience for the public the changes, from their fresh new uniforms to enhanced work spaces, were a boost for the staff too, she said.
"It’s a fresh chapter for the Alexandra Library and the team is ready to embrace it."
This year the library had also installed radio frequency identification barcodes (RFID) to all lending material, which allowed for self-checkout and returns.
The project was partly funded by the government’s Better Off Funding, which provided 60% of the cost.
The RFID barcodes were also a Better Off Funding project, with $361,000 granted for the tagging system.
