PHOTO:ROSA WOODS/STUFF Wellington’s central library is due for a $200 million upgrade.
Libraries now offer thousands of books digitally, and any borrower with an Internet connection need never step foot in physical library. So why is Wellington planning to spend $200 million of ratepayers’ money restoring a building for storing physical books. LAURA WILTSHIRE reports.
In 2019, Wellington’s central library closed suddenly, when engineers raised concerns about how the building would withstand a major earthquake.
Over a year later the city has three pop-up libraries, and the same number of ideas for strengthening the original building, built in 1991.
The most expensive, and preferred option of council staff, would cost close to $200 million and leave the city without a central library until 2025.
But with three smaller library up and running at a cost of $5.6m, does Wellington need to spend hundreds of millions of re-opening the central library?
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