Rolleston Residents Association vice-chair Jens Christensen addressed the district councillors at the public forum segment of the last district council meeting of the year.
He is confident councillors will now pursue adding the word library to the building after district council staff refused the request which was first made in June.
"I think we will get something, whether the letters are big enough and recognisable will be interesting," Christensen said after the meeting.
The move comes after a huge response from Selwyn Times readers both for and against the issue.
Christensen told councillors that members and fellow residents wanted the word library on the Te Ara Ātea building or on the two main doorways.
Christensen gave examples from other libraries around the South Island - Tūranga in Christchurch has "central library" on a signboard, Waitohi Whare Mātauranga in Picton has "Picton Library and Service Centre" on glass at the doorway, and the Amberley Library has the word "library" followed by the direct translation "whare pukapuka" on its building.Selwyn resident Anna Clarke also addressed councillors at the meeting.
She said Te Ara Ātea is more than just a library. It included a cafe, meeting and performance areas, play spaces for children, artwork and sculpture, cultural displays and digital technology.
Clarke said Te Ara Ātea, which means an unobstructed trail to the world and beyond, is "a beautiful representation of what this facility serves to the wider community and beyond".
After the meeting, Clarke told the Selwyn Times english signage on the doorway "sounds like a really good compromise".
Mayor Sam Broughton told fellow councillors staff would prepare a report.
Chief executive David Ward said this would be ready for a March meeting.
Cr Bob Mugford said a uniform approach needed to be adopted on bilingual signage for the district’s four libraries and other buildings.
Cr Elizabeth Mundt said it would be good to have signage at Te Ara Ātea that people could see as they drove past, as well as smaller signage for pedestrians.
Cr Grant Miller received applause from the public gallery, where several members of the residents association and supporters were seated when he said extra signage on a doorway or street was a modest request.
"That doesn’t seem a major imposition on anyone, why not do it? Let’s be more pragmatic about it," he said.
