The central Croydon children’s library, has formally reopened with a full makeover following new council investment, demonstrating the borough’s commitment to seeing young people reach their full potential.
The exciting and bold new layout has been led by the council with help from Croydon Tech City and Carillion, the company that runs the borough’s libraries.
The opening event featured a demonstration from Croydon Central’s Code Club. Led by Croydon Tech City volunteers, club members get to grips with the ins and outs of writing computer programmes. They will now be able to work on freshly installed computers in a dedicated space with a large-screen TV and two new desk hubs, where group learning sessions can be more interactive.
Regular visitors will notice that all of the lighting has been replaced although they won’t see how the new lights are extremely low energy. And, as well as being environmentally green, the space is decked out in striking new shades of red, orange and yellow to brighten up every visit.
The library’s book stock has also had an early spring clean, with old books that were never loaned out being cleared away and new stock brought in. This means that the most popular books are now in greater supply and easier to find.
“Libraries are absolutely essential in a modern civilised society, so investing in them is very important.
“This building was opened in 1994, and this is probably the largest investment it has seen since then. We need to keep this investment going not just here in the central library, but also across the borough, as libraries are at the heart of local communities.
“The new books are very welcome, and strategically we must work to try and double the book fund, as this also gets used to pay for new technology. That will help us continue to support the fabulous work being done by Croydon Tech City, which is putting a huge amount of effort into ensuring libraries are relevant to the needs of young people.
“I’m determined our libraries will be places that inform, inspire and improve the lives of everyone who visits them.”
Councillor Timothy Godfrey, cabinet member for culture, leisure and sport
Nigel Dias spoke at the re-opening of the library on behalf of Croydon Tech City. He said: “Croydon is a really exciting place for tech right now, as it is contributing to the borough having one of the fastest-growing economies in the UK. Our ‘Future Tech City’ project focuses on bringing together adults and children through things like code clubs. These will be hugely important in preparing young people for the jobs of the future.
“It’s great to see the council so open to helping create the opportunities.”
