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$5.6 million restoration of Lismore Library
$5.6 million restoration of Lismore Library
By Samantha Elley
With younger children, Winnie, 5 and Sylvia, 3, snuggled up next to her in a lounge and older daughter, Juliet, 9 sitting in one of the cosy chairs of a disused fireplace on the first floor of the refurbished library, East Lismore mum, Lauren Onus, knows the importance of having Lismore library reopened.
“It’s wonderful,” said the East Lismore resident.
“I have six children and the older kids didn’t want to hang in the younger kids book section.
“(Before the library was re-opened) the libraries were separate and so we were in different spots.
“Now we can all be together.”
While the Lismore Pop-up Library on Molesworth Street and the children’s library in Lismore Central Shopping Centre served their purpose, they will now be closed and relocating to 110 Magellan Street in the newly refurbished Lismore Library.
Lauren Onus and her two girls Winnie, 5, and Sylvia, 6
At a soft opening on Monday, with the rebuild still continuing, many Lismore residents made good use of the re-opened facilities.
With a baby time class going on downstairs, children enjoying the junior section on the first floor and adults taking advantage of the computers and non-fiction area on the top floor, it almost seemed like business as usual.
“I vividly remember the disturbing picture of the large pile of water-soaked books outside the library reaching up to the second storey,” said Lismore Mayor, Steve Krieg.
“In total, 30,000 books were lost.”
Lismore Area librarian, Michael Lewis, who is leading the internal design of the building, was pleased to show off the flood mitigation aspects of the renovated building.
“The journey to get from a flooded building in 2022 to the beautiful space we have today has taken a lot of work from so many people across the full level of government organisations and community groups,” he said.
“The intention behind this space is always to be flood aware.
“(On the ground floor) what you will see is a lot of bare walls and these have been chosen to stay there just as an easier way to hose these things out.
“We have a concrete floor with an epoxy resin.”
Baby time on the ground floor
Cr Krieg confirmed that when the Governor-General Sam Mostyn visited a while a go, she insisted the bare walls stay as part of the completed picture.
Lismore City Council’s Project Manager for the building renovations, Brett Lee, said the internal brickwork that greets patrons as they enter, will keep its natural look, just needing a water-based sealant to complete the picture.
“The slab (on the first floor) is brand new as the old one snapped,” he said.
“This building sits on timber pile and obviously the reactions of the ground caused movement and the floor broke.
“(The new floor) is hoseable.”
An information centre is now located on the ground floor where a point of contact is available for library users as soon as they walk in.
Since the devastation of three years ago, Mr Lewis said the support from people has been overwhelming.
“People were coming from all walks of life to give books,” he said.
“One lady came from Gosford, camping all the way up the coast, wanted to help and gave us some books.
“Staff were crying at the generosity.”
The $5.6 million flood-resilient restoration was funded through state and federal government provisions of $4.5 million, NSW government’s 2022 community Local Infrastructure Recovery Package, 2023 Community Local Infrastructure Recovery Package , State Library of NSW Public Library Infrastructure Grants, Lismore City Council and Rotary Sunrise.
The Lismore Central Shopping Centre community book swap will continue to operate.
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