By Patrick Laverick
The $45 million redevelopment of the Geelong Library and Heritage Centre has paid off, with a huge surge in visitors.
The centre averaged 4000 visits a year before the works and on Wednesday it welcomed its 100,000th visitor after opening two years ago.
A class from St Mary’s Primary School were the lucky special guests, with the class receiving a surprise present for their school – a collection of children’s history books.
The schoolkids were thrilled as CEO Patti Manolis presented the books to them and started to read them straight away.
The books included the Big Book of Australian History, Mary’s Australia and a story about Dame Nellie Melba.
Geelong Regional Library Chair Councillor Margot Smith said the new centre had encouraged a lot more school groups to visit.
“Visitation to the Heritage Centre by primary and secondary school students has increased significantly since the Heritage Centre relocated to its new premises in the Geelong Library and Heritage Centre.”
After moving all its records into one place and opening its doors to a wide range of special events, the Heritage Centre has revitalised itself.
Last month the centre hosted the Word for Word Festival, a writer’s festival dedicated to non-fiction which attracted some of Australia’s best-known writers and journalists.
This month the centre has turned on the Christmas spirit, hosting a storytime event and Christmas crafts as part of the Central Geelong Christmas Trail.
The story time session is on Monday to Saturday, at 2pm until Christmas Day.
The library won several of design awards at the Victorian Architecture Awards in 2016.
Staff members at the library are collecting non-perishable items for the Geelong Food Relief Centre through their Food for Fines fundraiser.
The library is waiving book fines in exchange for food donations with expiration dates of May 2018 or later.
