Longreach Library locks doors to switch locations

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The Longreach Library will close this Sunday and reopen a week later in its new location a few doors down at 104 Eagle Street.

The move was made necessary when the premises Council has been renting for the library were sold last year; leaving a confirmed deadline in which to vacate the building and relocate the facility. Council purchased the new premises earlier this year.

Despite not constructing a facility from scratch Council has been busy re-fitting the new premises to deliver enhanced and upgraded services. With the refit almost complete, Council’s Public Facilities Manager, Brendon Harvey, said it was time for the library team to ‘move house’.

“There’s a lot of work that’s been done in a pretty short space of time” he said. “The shelving is one of the last things to go in this week, and then it’ll be time to bring some books over. Ideally we would have liked to complete the move over a long weekend but the library’s collection numbers in the thousands.

“We think it’ll take most of a week to bring everything across, but if we can get it done sooner we might be able to reopen early.”

Mr Harvey said despite the inconvenience the new facility will be worth the wait.

“Libraries aren’t just about books anymore. These new premises will be more spacious and feature areas for study and reflection, as well as a new meeting room with state-of-the-art teleconferencing facilities.

“We’re taking the opportunity to create something that can really be more things to more people.”

The library will close on 28 July and reopen in the new location on Monday 5 August.