Duchess opens a new chapter at library

Mar 31 2009 by Dave Black, The Journal

THE Duchess of Northumberland praised a fantastic team effort at the reopening of the county’s main library less than seven months after flooding devastation.

The Duchess said Morpeth’s Central Library said users could now enjoy improved and modernised facilities – including special areas aimed at attracting more young readers.

The building – which is the administrative hub of the county service and also hosts the acclaimed Northern Poetry Library – was left under five feet of water when the nearby River Wansbeck burst its banks in September.

Damage was estimated at more than £500,000, with around of 30,000 items of stock such as books, CDs, DVDs, videos and virtually the entire children’s section destroyed.

At first it was feared the building would have to be demolished and rebuilt, but county council bosses decided to refurbish and modernise instead, with the help of specialist library design company Opening the Book. It now boasts a more spacious layout and low level shelving to help disabled readers and a new teen area with music, computer sofas and coffee table where youngsters can sit and browse magazines and newspapers.

There is also a new junior layout with a reading hideaway and picture book tunnels, a self-service quick choice area for readers in a hurry and a new range of graphic novels. Officially reopening the library yesterday, the Duchess said it was ‘quite extraordinary’ how the people of Northumberland had turned things round since Morpeth and other communities were so badly hit by the flooding.

She said: “We now have a new and better library facility. You have used adversity to provide something even better for people in Morpeth. The teen area is brilliant and I am thrilled to be here to congratulate everyone who has worked so hard to achieve this.”