| The Information Service for the entire Education and
Library Board area is housed on the second floor of the building.
Here again members of the public will be able to access the
Internet and there is considerable space for research work.
All floors are accessible by a lift, which also caters for
wheel-chair access, and the entire building is air-conditioned.
The overall design of the new library has been handled very
successfully in that a relatively large building has been
cleverly modelled to ‘fit into’ the existing streetscape.
It is a huge step upwards from the cramped and rather careworn
facilities of the old Carnegie building in the town.
Mrs Betty McClurg, Chairman of the Southern Education and
Library Board will officially open the exciting new building
on May 31st. In effect the library has been open to the public
since early March and is already being extremely well used
by the local community, but it is only right and fitting that
the opening of the building should be marked by an official
ceremony. Particularly so since it seems certain that in time
the new library will come to play an increasingly central
role as a core institution of the local community in Portadown.
It is appropriate that the new library is opening at a time
when the government appears at last to have begun to recognise
that libraries have the power to change communities, that
they are ideally placed to further the government’s own declared
aims of social cohesion, fostering the creative industries
and providing access to education for all for life. In this
respect libraries have an edge over all sorts of other cultural
and leisure institutions. They are much more numerous than
museums and better attended than most sports facilities, besides
which Libraries have links with community groups and other
organisations that can give them a wide community reach. Furthermore
no one is excluded because they lack a qualification or can’t
afford the fees. In fact libraries are one of the most welcoming
of all institutions.
The new library is ideally placed to play a dynamic and innovative
role in Portadown by addressing community needs in terms of
information and library provision, and by defining its programmes
and activities in order to meet those needs, whether in relation
to economic development, literacy, or the provision of neutral
meeting spaces or simply safe and clean space for youngsters
to get help with their homework after school.
The additional space for children’s activities will be particularly
useful. A child cannot be a child twice, and once these early
years of curiosity and openness to stimulation have passed
by, the children never have this opportunity again. The opening
of the new library facility, with its increasingly child-friendly
environment, is a wonderful opportunity, therefore, for parents
and children alike.
Portadown Library can also serve the local community in ways
not directly related to enriching the knowledge of its members.
It can provide invaluable meeting places and space for exhibits/displays
on topics of interest to the local community.
In this ever-changing technological world the Libraries
of the future will effectively become community learning centres
that will be of special importance to those who have no easy
access to computers (or to the more advanced ones) or who
need assistance in finding their way around the World Wide
Web and computerised databases. Computer technology will do
much more than give all library users the chance to go ‘on-line’,
however. It opens up opportunities for libraries to become
‘one-stop shops’ for local authority services. It also opens
up new ways of delivering library services. We are rapidly
approaching the time when library services will no longer
be confined within particular buildings or restricted to office
opening hours, but will be available ‘round the clock’ in
cyberspace. The new library in Portadown is already ideally
placed to fill such a role.
In all of these respects, therefore, the official
opening of Portadown’s new library should be a cause for rejoicing
throughout the Borough. Libraries are unique community resources
representing tradition, value, and respect that transcend
age, religion, politics or income. Given the current dynamics
of all community’s e.g. demographic change, electronic technology
and diversity, the new library is ideally placed to become
one of the most exciting and innovative institutions in Portadown
in the years ahead.
The Manager for the project was the SELB’s Chief architect,
Aidan McGee, while the Architect’s and Planning Supervisors
were the local firm of Maurice Cushnie. |
