Library counts down to its new chapter Book collection moves on
Jack Thomson
Sport Localcraig.ritchie@Democracytrinitymirror.Reportercom jack.thomson@reachplc.com
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lynsey.gair@reachplc.com kirsteen.brown@trinitymirror.com 0141 309 4312 Paisley Central Library will soon be on the move ahead of a new state-of-the-art facility opening on the High Street.
The library has to leave its current home next to Paisley Museum in September when the building closes for a £ 42 million revamp to turn the museum into an internationalclass destination based around the town’s unique textile heritage and collections.
Library provision will move to a new learning and cultural hub at 22 High Street by 2021, with a temporary library to be built next to the Lagoon leisure centre and due to open in January 2019.
Councillor Lisa- Marie Hughes, chair of Renfrewshire Leisure, said: “The £ 100 million investment in Paisley’s venues and infrastructure over the next few years will preserve the future of some of our best-loved heritage buildings by turning them into modern, community facilities, while helping us attract new events and visitors, and driving footfall to the town centre.”
The modular building will take over part of the facility’s south car park – currently used by council staff – and will house the most popular books and services, plus some public-access PCs.
In the meantime, library users will be able to access the same services at Foxbar, Glenburn, Ferguslie and Ralston libraries, as well as a wide range of e-books.
A number of public-access PCs will be made available from September at 5 High Street to ensure jobseekers and others requiring internet access can continue to go online.
The hugely- popular Bookbug sessions will move to the main Lagoon building until the end of the year until the temporary library is ready.
The heritage centre – where the public can access family and local history records – is set to decamp to a new home in Mile End Mill, in Seedhill Road, over the winter for four years until moving back into the museum when it reopens in 2022.
The moves are part of Renfrewshire Council’s £100 million investment in venues and infrastructure over the next few years, central to a wider plan to use the town’s unique heritage and cultural assets to transform its future.
The new learning and cultural hub will bring back into use a long-term vacant building on the High Street and create a modern library facility and educational resource for residents, pupils and students.
Councillor Hughes added: “When the new learning and cultural hub opens in 2021, it will be a flexible, fully-accessible and digitally- connected space for pupils, students and residents of all ages to use.
“At the same time, the space vacated by the current library will allow the museum to expand and showcase our unique history and collections to a much wider audience.
“But to achieve that, there will be a period of disruption over the next couple of years – and we will be ready to work with businesses and residents to minimise the impact of that.
“The temporary library at the Lagoon will be smaller than the current one but will be designed to allow the most popular items and services to be easily accessed there.
“And while there will be a gap of a few weeks between the current building shutting and the temporary one opening, there will be lots of ways to access library services in the interim – from our online catalogue, to our other libraries at Ralston, Ferguslie, Glenburn and Foxbar, to the extra public PCs we are putting in place.”