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Scores of book lovers, cafe aficionados, and day trippers descended on Blenheim’s new library on Friday as the $20 million purpose-built facility opened its doors to the public for the first time.
While some were there purely out of curiosity, some were replenishing their borrowed-book supplies and others keen to test the credentials of the mochaccinos and muffins at Blenheim’s newest cafe.
First through the doors for the midday opening were Trevor Burkhart and Ian Watt who said they had been following the progress of the construction of the facility and said it was a great “asset” for Blenheim and the community.
”I made an effort to come into town because I wanted to be here, because I’ve been watching it go up. A library is a bit like a school, it’s a bit of a meeting place for different cultures and everything, so it’s going to a great asset for the town.
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“At school you grow up with a lot of different people, rich people, poor people, farmers and all sorts and that’s a really cool thing, and this can be something like that as well.
“This is a bit of a statement for the future, and it will draw people here, it will draw a lot of kids and it will draw all the cultures here as a centre point – it’s an awesome building, it’s like art galleries should be,” Burkhart said.
Ex-school principal Watts said he knew the importance of libraries through his educational background and said the “statement” building showed Blenheim could punch above its weight.
”I’ve watched the progress of the construction for the past couple of years, and it’s just wonderful.
”I’m well aware of the value of the library, not only within the education area but also as a vital part of the community,” Watt said.
Elsewhere, self-confessed book lovers Kirsty Brown and her two sons Huxley, 11, and Baxter, 8, were returning 22 books they had borrowed and planned to stock up again.
Sometimes they had borrowed up to 90 books between them at time, Brown said.
“We’ve been looking forward to this, we all love it here, but Huxley’s the absolute book lover.
“We’ve been watching the progress and driving past whenever we can, so we were able to see the progress coming along, and he’s been studying the map for everything in the library, so he knows where he wants to go to first,” Brown said.
Upstairs, Levi Heather and Tania Pearson were enjoying the view and the warm autumn sunshine through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows on the first floor.
Pearson said they were looking for books before heading downstairs to sample the treats at the library’s new cafe.
”It’s very exciting for Levi, he just loves any books to do with trains, boats, anything about the world,” Pearson said.
Levi said he thought the new building was very cool” and he was looking forward to visiting the cafe for a sandwich.
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