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Green Light for Liverpool's New Central Library
One of the biggest library redevelopments in the UK has been given the green light.
After four years of planning, the PFI contract for the £50m renovation of Liverpool Central Library was formally signed yesterday and immediately hailed as 'the best news this year' by Liverpool City Council.
The 150-year-old library, which lies within Liverpool's UNESCO World Heritage site, will now officially close on Friday, July 23 and be handed over to be rebuilt by Inspire Partnership, which is a joint venture between Amber Infrastructure and Shepherd Construction with architects at Austin-Smith:Lord and Cofely as providers of Facilities Management services.
Work will begin this autumn and will see the full restoration of the Grade II listed parts of the building, which date back to 1860, and the famous Hornby Library and Oak Reading Rooms being fully open to the public for the first time.
The sections behind the façade, which were built in the 1950s and 1970s following World War II bomb damage and now suffer from damp and a leaking roof, will be rebuilt to make the most of the available space including a new purpose-built home for Liverpool Record Office. It will also feature high class visitor facilities with excellent access to the library's book collections.
The new Central Library is scheduled to reopen at the end of 2012. Until then a temporary library service will operate from Monday, August 9 on the 2nd floor of the nearby World Museum Liverpool making the most popular items and books available to the public.
Services will include access to public computers, audio visual material, business information, newspapers, a collection of directories, family history and local studies sources and a fax and photography service.
Council Leader Joe Anderson said: "Liverpool Central Library is one of the UK's most celebrated public libraries but it desperately needs this renovation so the approval of this scheme is one of the best bits of news the city will hear this year. The scale of this project is immense and it will take some time to complete, but I'm sure the wait will be well worth it."
Staff began emptying Central Library in the new year and have already been undertaking the biggest review of the library's collections in 40 years.
The revamped Central Library will also include a new home for the Liverpool Record Office which will house 14km of archives and some of the city's most historic treasures from the last 800 years - such as the original 1207 charter - in purpose built secure, climate controlled storage.
There will also be state-of-the-art IT facilities which will allow young people to download music and games onto MP3 and MP4 players, with wi-fi and access to computers.
Other new elements include:
- New repository with capacity for 20 years of additional storage space for books and archives
- New entrance to main library, including a 'literary pavement' and front and rear access
- Five new floors with better access including escalators, lifts, toilets, meeting rooms and café
- New conservation studio for repairs to the city's masterpieces
- New rooftop Atrium and terrace overlooking St.John's Gardens
- Re-opening of historic internal entrances to the Picton Reading Room
- Re-opening of International Library, to original design, as a new children's zone
- Dedicated room to John James Audubon's celebrated book - Birds of America
- Doubling the number of public computers
- New light well's at front and rear to allow library to be naturally lit
- New 24 hour on-street, drop-off book service
After the building's closure on Friday, July 23 it will take approximately three months to empty completely before construction work commences.
Events calendar
Connection and Convergence: 2nd Int. Conference on Joint Use Libraries
Adelaide, Australia: 09 August 2010 - 11 August 2010
CONNECTION AND CONVERGENCE: SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON JOINT USE LIBRARIES
ADELAIDE AUSTRALIA 10-11 AUGUST 2010
Following the first international conference on joint use libraries* held in Manchester UK 19-21 June 2007, Auslib Conferences announces the second international conference and invites proposals for papers for it.
WHERE Adelaide, South Australia. With a population of 1.2 million, Adelaide is rated within the world’s 100 most liveable cities. It provides access to tourist destinations such as the Australian Outback, Flinders Ranges, Ayers Rock and Kangaroo Island. South Australia contains the major wine producing areas of Australia. See www.southaustralia.com/ and www.australia.com/ With 60 joint use libraries, South Australia has Australia’s largest number. They include a variety in or close to metropolitan Adelaide.
WHEN Tuesday 10 August and Wednesday 11 August 2010. There will be an optional full day study tour of joint use libraries on Monday 9 August 2010.
Note The 76th annual general conference of IFLA will be held in Brisbane, Queensland Saturday 14 to Thursday 19 August 2010. See www.ifla.org/IV/ifla76/index.htm.
Delegates attending Connection and Convergence and the IFLA conference would have the options of traveling to Brisbane directly from Adelaide (flight time 2 hours 15 minutes) or via Australia’s other large east coast cities of Melbourne or Sydney. Road travel options could include the world-ranked Great Ocean Road between Adelaide and Melbourne, or the coastal road between Melbourne and Sydney.
FOCUS Connection and Convergence will focus on the increasing numbers and varieties of joint use libraries being developed around the world. It will also aim to explore other developments connecting, converging and colocating academic, public, school and special libraries, and with nonlibrary agencies and services.
IFLA Gothenburg 2010
Gothenburg, Sweden: 10 August 2010 - 15 August 2010
The World Library and Information Congress 2010, 76th IFLA General Conference and Assembly, will take place in the Göteborg Convention Centre, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Theme
The theme chosen for the World Library and Information Congress in Gothenburg energizes and supports the Presidential Theme of IFLA President, Ellen Tise: Libraries driving access to knowledge.
The 2010 theme is therefore centered around the following:
• Free access to knowledge, as important as freedom of speech
• Accessible for all, including the visually impaired and others with reading difficulties
• Open and inclusive, no matter who you are or where you come from
• Public domain, a place on the net or in a physical space, where people contribute and socially share content produced and owned as a public service
• Open for ideas with user driven innovation, where the user might as well be the producer
• Open access publishing for further knowledge building and a better balance between copyright laws and freedom of information
Click here for more information on the IFLA 2010 Event.
Projects in progress
For a list of library building projects not yet in the Designing Libraries database see the Tell Us More page.
St Helens Library Refurbishment
St Helens Central Library is currently undergoing refurbishment and will be closed until the end of the month.
Set to reopen on Wednesday, April 28, the new look library will feature upgraded computer facilities and new book stock.
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The next issue of the newsletter will be published in December 2008.
