Central Otago District Council (CODC) group manager — community experience David Scoones said both he and the library team were delighted to be giving the community a pre-Christmas treat by being able to reopen at Tarbert St on Monday, December 2.
Since mid-June this year, the library has been operating from a pop-up at the Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery on Centennial Ave while an extensive refurbishment has been taking place at the Tarbert St building.
Mr Scoones said they were looking forward to being able to show the community their newly refurbished space.
"A very heartfelt thanks to the community the team at Central Stories for accommodating us during this time, and especially our staff for their adaptability and hard work over the past six months."
Libraries manager Aimee Pieterse said the team was in preliminary pack-up mode to return to their beloved "home" on Tarbert St.
"The past six months have been a real challenge being in a much smaller space. 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."
The project has been made possible by the government’s Better Off Funding that provided 60% of the total $1,035,000 cost. Since February, Central Otago Libraries has been converting its collection to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) barcodes, another Better Off Funding project where the council was granted $361,000 towards the installation of the wireless radio tagging system.
CODC property and facilities officer Bex Snape, who has overseen the refurbishment, said the project team had worked hard to ensure the project ran to schedule, and on budget, to meet the needs of locals and visitors alike.
The temporary pop-up library in Central Stories will be closed next week while staff move back into the Tarbert St building.
