Ballarat Library redevelopment almost complete

City of Ballarat community wellbeing director Matthew Wilson confirmed the library was expected to reopen before the end of March 2024.

"It is expected that contractors H Troon will hand the facility over to the City of Ballarat by the end of 2023, before works can begin to start moving all necessary equipment and approximately 75,000 library resources back into the facility," Mr Wilson said.

The redevelopment project was announced in 2021 with an estimated cost of $7.5 million, with the council mostly footing the bill bar $500,000 from the Victorian Government's Living Libraries Infrastructure Program.

Council committed $6.7 million to the project which was originally anticipated to be completed by 2023.

This was underspent in the 2022-23 financial year but the remainder has been brought forward for the final stages.

In the 2023-24 budget, $3.2 million has been set aside for the rest of the development.

Mr Wilson said structural work like a new internal stair case to the expanded second floor was also complete and the focus was on internal painting and fit-out, which includes the thousands of books currently at Ballarat Town Hall.

"When completed, the Ballarat Library will become a place that will inspire, surprise, and delight the community with a strong focus on fostering lifelong learning," he said.

The Ballarat Library at Town Hall remains busy as a temporary facility while the Doveton Street library is being redeveloped, and is averaging 1100 visits per week."

Library borrowing has been increasing in Ballarat with 9.41 per cent of the community actively borrowing, but this is still a drop from 12.2 per cent in 2020.

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