Timaru’s new $1M library

Press, 27 April 1979, Page 22

Timaru’s new $1M library

Timaru reporter Monday, May 7 will be a “red letter” day for Timaru, when the GovernorGeneral (Sir Keith Holyoake), on his first official visit to the city as Gover-nor-General, will open the new public library. The library, built at a cost of more than SIM, provides an adult area of more than 900 sq. m, and a children’s area of more than 300 sq. m. Curved concrete is a feature of the new library-. Windows have been carefully placed to avoid direct sunlight on books and displays. Unlike conventional

ceilings, the library employs some sophisticated geometry. The curves are designed to make the structure “roll” to the eye. The Timaru City Council first zoned the main part of the site for civic and community purposes in 1965. Over the years, it had acquired or made arrangements to secure the entire area. The council contracted to purchase the remaining property on the north end of the triangle, bordered by Church Street, Sophia Street, and Banks Street in 1972. The decision to build a new library was reinforced

by the cramped area of the present library, the layout of which was unsuitable and access by the aged- or infirm difficult. The foundation stone was laid by the former Mayor (Mr C. R. Hervey), on September 14, 1977. The stone was dedicated by the Rev. R. Oppenheim, then Vicar of St Mary’s Anglican Church. The City Council engaged the services of a Dunedin architect (Mr D. Field) to supervise the landscape design. Tree planting will break the lines of the building and visually connect the site to the broader landscape.

Large shrubs will be used to screen parts of the car park, and a fountain will take the form of three jets of water rising from a bowl. The task of moving 65,000 books to the new library began With the carrying of volumes of newspapers. Government papers, and books from the basement. Because of the narrow stairs from the basement, the articles had to be passed out of the windows in a chain activity. A fork-lift truck, parked underneath the windows, will be used to lower books, furniture, and library records and papers.

Shelving in the new lib-* rary has already been labelled. The same number of books will be displayed in the new library as tha old, but spacing will ba better. May will be an amnesty month on overdue books. The amnesty was suggested by the librarian (Miss M. Morgan), who told the council’s cultural committee recently that because of the closing of the present library to permit the move to the new building, it would not ba possible to charge fines for overdue books in the two-week shut-down.