After more than a decade of planning, the Rockhampton Regional Library was officially opened in February. Located in the Rockhampton CBD, this state of the art facility has been open to the public since last December, attracting a dramatic increase in new membership.
New members enrolling from December 2008 to February 2009 showed an increase of almost 100 per cent over the previous six months.
Loans have also increased, with the average number of loans per month for the three month period showing about a 33 per cent increase.
At the official opening, Rockhampton Regional Council Mayor, Councillor Brad Carter, said the project came to fruition thanks largely to the efforts of the former Rockhampton City Council, which spent the best part of a decade getting the library built.
“Today, we have a first class library, arguably the best of its kind in provincial Queensland, servicing the entire region,” he said. “It boasts the latest technology, and, just as importantly, a helpful, hardworking and extremely professional team
of librarians and support staff.
“In my day, all we had at libraries was books, books and more books, and a fear that librarians would give us a strong reprimand should we be speaking too loud.
“But today it’s a new world altogether. DVDs, internet access and well appointed meeting rooms – what we have is a complete resource centre for people of all walks of life and all generations, from the young to the young at heart.”
Deputy Mayor, Councillor Rose Swadling, also welcomed the new library.
“As the Mayor pointed out, libraries used to be places purely for books, but times have changed,” she said.
“We now have a regional facility which will truly serve our region well as a hub of information and recreation, a place of lifelong learning of relevance to all sections of the community, and a keeper of cultural memory.”
