Really cool, pretty flash, fancy, magic, marvellous, brilliant and amazing are among words Ashburton residents used to describe their new town library, Te Kete Tuhinga, when it opened on Monday.
The automatic doors of the main entrance to the Te Whare Whakatere building facing Baring Square swept open just as the town clock finished chiming 8.30am.
Four borrowers who were waiting with their books walked in. They were Damien Cavendish, Jeni Wiggins, Judith Smart and Leonie Hurrell.
The library in the $62 million building has opened prior to the building’s completion, due by Monday when the district council will begin operating from the site.
First to borrow books from the library was Jeni. Her choices were The Paua Tower by Coral Atkinson and Kiss of the Wolf Spider by Sharianne Bailey.
The keen reader was a little overwhelmed being the centre of attention, although grateful when mayor Neil Brown presented her with a prize of a kanuka seedling and certificate.
‘‘I didn’t come in to get all these photos!’’ she said.
Leonie said, after looking around the library, she could not wait to bring her granddaughter there. ‘‘I won’t get her out of the place. I think it’s magic,’’ she said.
Ashburton 12-year-old Amelia Brockhurst was with her two sisters Libby, 10, and Charlotte, 8, as they filled up a basket in the children’s section. ‘‘It looks good with the old bit still kept in it,’’ Amelia said, referring to the historic former Pioneer Hall having been incorporated into the children’s library. ‘‘It’s really cool,’’ she said about the library generally. ‘‘Fancy,’’ was the word Charlotte used. Eight-year-old Lochlann Veint, at the Lego table, had similar praise. ‘‘Ten out of ten,’’ he said, while his mother added ‘‘It’s pretty flash’’.
