Birkenhead Public Library - Public Space

Public Space

The library has also tried to provide public space for various activities, such as study and leisure reading, though its history is marked by a struggle to do this consistently. The lack of space meant the popularity of the original library was something of an embarrassment. The 1968 building was more spacious, especially after later alterations. 1973 saw the addition of the mezzanine floor; and 1993, the addition of a Young Adult room, as well as a Large Print lounge. However, there was little room for much expansion, which led to the curtailment of some service development. This was one of the reasons for the new building project started in 2005. The temporary location in the Leisure Centre, offered two tables in the magazine-newspaper-computer area, along with a few sofa chairs. The Children's section also had some seating (pictured). But, after pressure from Cr Hartley the children's play equipment was cut back by more than half. The original costs was to spend $80,000 on the children and the final cost was only $30,000 and the landscaping was also slashed, a reduction that is reflected in the final arrangements.

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