AWARD winning Wisbech Library is opening its door tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday) for a greet and meet some of those responsible for running it. An open invitation is being made to Wisbech residents to come and see the new award winning library and find

AWARD winning Wisbech Library is opening its door tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday) for a 'greet and meet' some of those responsible for running it.

An open invitation is being made to Wisbech residents to come and see the new award winning library and find out more about the new facilities.

Sue Williamson, Service Manager, and Lynda Martin, Partnership Manager, at Cambridgeshire County Council are pleased to invite anyone along to the library on Wednesday March 24 from 3pm to 5pm, to enjoy a coffee and talk about the development of the new facilities and ideas for the future

Last week Wisbech Library won the Community Award and the Commercial - new build Award at the Fenland Building design awards run by Fenland District Council and the Cambs Times and Wisbech Standard.

Library staff hopes to hear from people who have not joined the library to show them what is on offer.

The redeveloped and extended Wisbech Library reopened its doors to the public on 1st February 2010, and customers have provided very positive feedback on the building and the services it provides. Since its opening 820 new people have joined the library and library visitors have increased by 45%.

Local people were involved in planning the re-designed library from the very beginning. It was largely funded by �2 million from the Big Lottery Community Libraries programme and �100,000 from the East of England Development Agency.

For the first time the library has a customer lift to the first floor, customer toilets with baby changing facilities and a refreshment area. There is also a Learning Centre which offers courses, advice and guidance on qualifications and opportunities for flexible learning and community rooms, and fully equipped and affordable meeting and function rooms for hire.

The first floor also houses the Fenland Collection, a unique and comprehensive local studies resource relating to the Fens.

The new library contains more books than the old one - 42,000 compared with 35,000 in March 2008 - and a further 1,500 items are currently on order.

Some of the money allocated for new stock will be spent now the library is open in response to what library users have been requesting. There are also more free computers available on both floors and Wi-Fi access.

The self service technology allows customers to take control of how and when they issue or return items with easy to use twenty first century technology. This is a new service for Wisbech Library and its customers and staff are on hand to support customers with the technology. Once everyone gets used to the system it has been found to reduce queues.

Cambridgeshire County Councillor Sir Peter Brown, Cabinet Member for Communities, said: "This new award winning Library is not only better than the old one but is a true community facility. The majority of people who have used it have found it an improvement and been very positive. We don't want libraries that are dusty places, we want to create vibrant community centres where residents and users have a say in how it is run and the facilities we offer. Wisbech is a great example of this vision being put into practice.