Really cool, pretty flash, fancy, magic, marvellous, brilliant and amazing is how Ashburton residents described their new town library, Te Kete Tuhinga.
The automatic doors of the main entrance to the Te Whare Whakatere building facing Baring Square swept open just as the town clock finished chiming 8.30am last Monday.
Four borrowers who were waiting with their books walked in.
They were Damien Cavendish, Jeni Wiggins, Judith Smart and Leonie Hurrell.
The library in the $62 million building was opened before the building’s completion. Today the district council will begin operating from the site.
The first to borrow books from the library was Jeni.
Her choices were The Paua Tower by Coral Atkinson and Kiss of the Wolf Spider by Sharianne Bailey.
The keen reader was a little overwhelmed being the centre of attention, although grateful when Ashburton Mayor Neil Brown presented her with a prize of a kanuka seedling and certificate.
"I didn’t come in to get all these photos," she said.
