Reading council has explained why the Central Library is moving to new facilities this summer.
Reading Central Library in King’s Road, which has served the town since 1985, will close down on Monday, May 11.
All services are moving to the Civic Centre in Bridge Street this summer.
A council spokesperson said: “Our new Central Library will be a bright, spacious, accessible, and modern library featuring a significantly larger children’s area, a dedicated teen section, and fully stocked fiction, non‑fiction, local history and family history collections.
“It will also include a new community and events space, The Square, as well as almost 100 work and study spaces equipped with power points and free Wi‑Fi. There will also be free-to-use PCs and tablets.
“While the current building has served Reading well since 1985, it is now inaccessible, dark, and is no longer able to provide the facilities and resources residents need and expect from a modern library service.
“The council is confident that when residents begin to make use of Reading’s new flagship library space in a few weeks’ time, they will appreciate the vast improvement.
“The new Reading Central Library will continue to be a civic anchor with more practical study and workspace, quieter areas, digital access, a learning and activity hub, and a place where people of all ages can come together for support connection and opportunity which supports education, wellbeing, inclusion, connection, networking, and community life.
“It will also offer extended opening hours. On Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays it will open an hour earlier in the mornings, with access to self‑service library facilities.
“All Reading’s libraries are closed on Sundays, and all except Palmer Park, are closed on Wednesdays, and this will continue to be the case.”
There has been public frustration after it emerged that the new library will have fewer books than the current one, which was confirmed at a meeting of the council’s Older People’s Working Group in October 2023.
Explaining the reason for this, the spokesperson said: “Sadly, books do fall in and out of popularity and parts of the King’s Road site had become a storeroom for outdated and unused books, some of which had not been loaned out for decades, dating back to when the Central Library in the Town Hall was the library headquarters for Berkshire.
“The Library Service has thoroughly evaluated the stock on non-public shelves, in line with its usual disposal policy.
“Library staff at the King’s Road site have been busy preparing to facilitate the move, which includes some of the equipment. As a result of the need to move equipment and stock, services will no longer be available from the current building from May 11 until the new library opens in the summer.
“During this time, there are six libraries in our neighbourhoods which will be open to the public as usual.
“The council has a responsibility to all local council taxpayers to make the best possible use of all of its buildings and assets. The successful bid for external Government funding to create a modern, flagship new library for Reading included releasing the site for much-needed homes. The entire process is going through the correct scrutiny channels.
“Two detailed consultations took place with library users and all Reading residents before final designs were agreed, with lots of the suggestions and ideas incorporated into the final plans.
