Library plan for Bishopdale centre

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32460, 21 November 1970, Page 18

Library plan for Bishopdale centre

If a Crown section can be obtained at the Bishopdale reserve, the Waimairi County Council will proceed with the planning of a 10,000 square foot public library, administration block, and workroom as part of the adjoining Bishopdale community centre.

This decision was reached] by the council at its meeting! on Thursday evening when the works and reserves committee asked the council to negotiate with the Lands and Survey Department for the section. Cr I. Calvert said it was imperative to obtain the section, which had been set aside as the site of a "magnet" store, but a library was, in effect, exactly that, and it seemed to be an admirable use of the land. The community centre, which may cost as much as $500,000, will be in the heart of the shopping centre, and will serve a population estimated to total 24,000 within a radius of a mile. In a report to .the council, the county librarian (Mrs T. McArtney) commended the concept of the Bishopdale library serving as a processing

[centre for the other county libraries, including the proposed new library at Burwood. Maximum use of a library was synonymous with lower service costs, she said, and a popular library could add to the value of neighbouring properties. A library could not fulfil its function in a second-grade location, and it would be poor planning to have the library on the edge of the No. 2 car park.