Acting chair Jens Christensen said residents had asked the association to pursue the matter, as they believed just having the name Te Ara Ātea on its own is confusing to newcomers.
“They don’t know what the building’s for,” Christensen said.
He said he has had his battles with the district council over the issue, and it is still ongoing.
Staff are refusing the request, he said.
Te Ara Ātea is a library and multi-use community facility that replaced the former Rolleston Library. It opened on December 2 last year.
Meaning “the unobstructed trail to the world and beyond,” the name was gifted to the community by Te Taumutu Rūnanga, which worked in partnership with the district council on the $22.7 million building and landscape.
In a statement to the Selwyn Times, the district council avoided the question of whether it would give consideration to putting “Library” in the Te Ara Ātea signage.
The complex is already one of the district council’s most popular community facilities. It has an average of just under 17,000 visits a month, making it the third most popular council-owned community facility in the district behind the Selwyn Aquatic Centre and Selwyn Sports Centre.
"That’s a really exciting demonstration of the way people across the community are embracing the many different things available at Te Ara Ātea, from the library to the workshops and community gathering spaces, art collections, heritage displays and taonga of the district from its earliest settlers, some never seen before on display in Aotearoa," Kidd said.
The facility’s first anniversary on December 4 will be celebrated with a fun-filled day of art, music, crafts dance and more.
- Have Your Say: Should 'library' be added to the title of Te Ara Ātea? Email your views to barry@starmedia.kiwi. Keep your responses to 200 words or less.
