New Cardiff Central Library opens

I am writing this brief post, standing at a network terminal in the ground floor of the new city library, which has opened today - just because I can do so. The IT component of the place is most impressive in sheer numbers of machines available to the public. Signing on with the use of my library card and and personal pin, after queuing briefly to obtain one, has given me and access an opportunity to test drive the system, running on top of XP professional, guarded by Kaspersky Anti Virus. When you sign on you have to agree to Terms and Conditions of use set by the Council. These are clear, common sense and not onerous, and worth reading through once, unlike the gobbledeygook served up in so many EULAs attached to ordinary programs.

The new building really is a special place, with a spacious, light, bright and airy design, with plenty of space for the stock of books, and for readers to sit and work, either at tables, or at terminals on each of the five floors. There's an automatic book sorting machine close to the main entrance. It can be accessed from outside the building when the place is shut. It's a splendid piece of mechanical and electronic technology combined, and should fascinate children of all ages, both to use and to watch. There's a lot of thoughtful design gone into creating the place. It's been delightful to wander around and listen to the low babble of voices, people of all ages expressing delight and curiosity, as they wander around. I took lots of photos, but I'll have to wait until I get home before I post them to my redevelopment site.

This is a sure fire winner in my view. A foretaste hopefully of the quality and user friendliness of the rest of the new buildings to come into use, in another six months or so from now. Facts and figures about the new libary can be found here.

What the BBC had to say about it last weekend is to be found here

Well done Cardiff !