17,000 visitors in our first week!
Cambridgeshire's new Central Library has marked another chapter in its success by welcoming more than 17,000 visitors in its first week of operation.
The Library, in Cambridge's Lion Yard, opened to the public on September 29, after a 7.5 million pound rebuild and refurbishment programme which created some of the most modern public library facilities in the east of England - which have already won wide acclaim from the public.
Over the first seven days, staff welcomed 17,389 visitors, loaned 16,250 items and signed up 1,786 new library members. Especially popular were the Saturday and Sunday sessions.
The old Central Library building has been totally transformed with old storage and office space cut away and new floor-space created by filling in a void between the first and second floors.
The old entrance has been removed and replaced by a new entrance linking the building to the Grand Arcade’s first floor shops and the Lion Yard car park. Lifts have been replaced and escalators installed linking all floors.
In addition, extended and improved IT and on-line learning facilities have been created, the building also provides a new home for the Connexions and NextStep advice services and also a new Mediatheque giving access to the British Film Archive - the first of its kind in any public library in the country.
The new facilities also include a much improved children's library, enhanced quiet reading and study areas and improved facilities for the nationally renowned Cambridgeshire Collection local studies library.
Cambridgeshire County Council Cabinet Member for Communities, Councillor Sir Peter Brown, said: 'We were as disappointed as anyone that the re-opening of the Central Library was delayed, but we promised the public that it would be worth the wait and judging by the number of visitors during the first week - they agree with us!
'What has been created is a truly fantastic new Library with a range of extended facilities and services which put the Cambridge Central Library in the premier league of public library facilities - certainly in the east of England, if not in the whole country.'
The Library was originally scheduled to re-open in May last year, but serious structural problems with the original 1970s building and unsatisfactory performance by the original building contractor delayed the project.
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Date: 20 October 2009
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