Linwood Library / Te Kete Wānanga o Ihutai

On the 18 December, 1993 Linwood Library was opened with a dawn ceremony of blessing, followed later in the morning with an official opening ceremony. It was the first new library in Christchurch to include Māori protocol in the opening.

Planning for a new Library

A report in November 1990 urged the council to develop a new library in Linwood. The review by City Librarian Dorothea Brown and Suburban Liaison and Development librarian, Ms Erina Parks said the Linwood area was the worst off for library services. A professional library at Linwood was first proposed in 1969 as one of five service points around the city. It is the only one of those five not completed. The review expected that a library in Linwood would encourage at least 12,000 new users to enrol and generate about 200,000 issues a year. There was also a possibility of relocating the council’s Linwood Service centre into a shared building. A land swap arrangement between the city council and the owner of Linwood City Mall, GUS Properties for a parcel of land on the eastern side of Cranley Street provided a location for the new library.

Once the building process was underway a former retail store in the Linwood City Mall was transformed into a publicity centre for the new library. The Linwood Library Information and Enrolment Centre opened on Monday 15 November from 11 am to 4 pm daily and 11 am to 3 pm at weekends. Users of the Linwood Voluntary Library on the corner of Stanmore Road and Worcester Street were also given the opportunity to enrol early with a librarian visiting each afternoon to promote the new library. A general information flyer about the library was delivered to 10,000 homes with the help of local Scout groups. Balloons, cushions and books transformed the space and story readings were held twice a day, often featuring celebrities like radio personality James Daniels and author Gavin Bishop. The centre offered a pre-enrolment service for those wanting to beat the opening rush and join the new library.

The New Library Opens

Opening ceremonies really began the previous evening when Barbara Clarke and Jane Keenan from the library met with kaumatua Tip Manihere outside the building at 11:30pm. He placed a tapu on the building. At the time a cold wind was blowing and rain was predicted for the next morning. In the event the rain did not show up to ruin opening day. On the morning of the 18 December, 1993 about 80 people gathered outside the library at 4:50 am. Tip Manihere blessed the building in front of library staff, City Councillors and Community Board members as well as members of the public. Later in the morning after opening speeches, there was a balloon and pigeon release and the building was officially open. A specially decorated cake provide by the Linwood Supervalue was shared among the crowd and entertainment kicked off. Stilt walkers, jugglers, clowns, puppets, face painting and story reading kept the crowds amused. Musical entertainment featured a Samoan cultural group and the Skellerup Woolston Band, Avonside Girls High provided a barbershop quartet and a chamber music group and Aranui High School students also performed. After a frantic few hours of issuing stock and joining up new members the library closed at 2pm.

Architect Richard Proko designed the library with a wide curved frontage a large windows to let in as much natural light as possible. The librarian, Barbara Clarke, said “we were looking for a building that reflected good community spirit; one that was nice to enter”. Other features included an activities room with a self-contained kitchen and an outdoor reading court with seating. The activities room was open for community use free of charge during library hours. The building was designed to be column free to allow versatile layouts. The design incorporated energy efficient lighting, computer cabling, acoustic ceilings and low maintenance materials. Striking yellow and jade colours were used and the Young Adult area featured a mural by Fred Maynard depicting popular rock musicians Mick Jagger, Janet Jackson, Crowded House and Tina Turner.

Armitage Williams Construction Ltd started building the new library at the end of July and completed the project within four and a half months.

The new library opened with four full-time staff and three part-time assistants. The library began with 25,000 titles of which 70 to 80 percent were new and planned to build toward a collection of 50,000. The library opened with computer catalogues.

Ten Years On

In celebration of ten years of library service at Linwood, library staff planned a week of events. They began with a community morning tea enjoyed by young and old, to the cool sound of Cashmere High School’s jazz band, "Established". Christmas decorations tested the skills of the younger set and glue and glitter attracted those with a creative urge in the afternoon. A group of talented youngsters hip-hopped the following morning away under the tutelage of Zion Dance Group.

Thursday the 18th December 2003 was the Library's actual birthday. Natural Magic enthralled an enthusiastic audience of littlies with their pirate performance. Friday saw the Linwood team back with the glue and glitter and an amazing array of Christmas accessories for the tree. Matt Lecomte’s Old Time Band delighted customers with their rendition of songs from the 20s and 30s on Saturday and provided a truly festive conclusion to the week.

A Well Deserved Spruce Up

In May 2007 the library closed for three weeks to enable the first major refurbishment of the building since it opened in 1993. The library was now 14 years old and the interior was looking both tired and shabby said Christchurch City Libraries Manager Carolyn Robertson. "Much of the work is required for health and safety reasons," she said. "The refurbishment involves the replacement of threadbare carpet, painting of the walls in fresh, Pacific-inspired colours, the relocation of some services to make better use of available space and for work to begin on an on-going programme to refurbish the furniture." Mrs Robertson says the theme for the refurbishment had been inspired by the sea, the colours predominantly being blues, greens and parchment. "Linwood Library is a busy community library with an average monthly foot count of 15,000. It has a sense strong of community; the customer base being drawn from the local Linwood community and Christchurch's seaside hill suburbs.”

Linwood Today

Today Linwood has achieved that 50,000 items in the collection mark and is one of our busier libraries. Five full time and seven part time staff operate a six day a week service and the library often hosts community events and live music.