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| NEWS | BY KIM JANSSEN |
 Tessa Jowell, left, and Mark Osterfield, the manager of Swiss Cottage Library  Cllr Jane Roberts: “A stunning project”  From left: Mark Osterfield, Christine Nixon, former deputy to Frank Cole (right), deputy borough librarian when the library was built |
Ms Jowell described the impressive £7.6 million refurbishment of Sir Basil Spence’s Grade II listed building as “an excellent example of the new face of public libraries in the 21st-century” at a reception on Thursday night. And council leader Councillor Jane Roberts said she was “proud and moved” to have been involved in what she described as “a stunning project executed with verve”. She said: “Libraries went through some tough times in the 1980s because of funding problems but this council has turned the service around over the last five years.” Camden has attracted 900,000 new library users since 1998, up from 1.2 million visits a year to 2.1 million. It has moved up from 29th to third in the London league table of visits per 1,000 residents. Library bosses expect that number to increase even further once the central library in Avenue Road re-establishes itself. The Queen first opened the library in 1964. It has been open to the public in its new guise since the end of April, but staff, councillors, authors and developers gathered to pat themselves on the back over champagne and canapés last week. Among the crowd admiring the artist-designed children’s area, specially commissioned bookshelves and computer terminals, were Football Grounds of Britain author Simon Inglis, celebrating a deal with Arsenal to write about Highbury, and Frank Cole, who was deputy borough librarian for Hampstead when the library was built. Mr Cole declared himself “impressed” with the new look but said: “I wouldn’t say it was any more impressive than when it was first built.” Critics who opposed the redevelopment concede the library looks stunning but question the amount of taxpayers’ money spent on the scheme. Tory Councillor Andrew Mennear said: “What wouldn’t look good if you’d spent £8 million on it?” Work on the next stage of the £40 million Swiss Cottage redevelopment, the sports centre next door, should be complete by April 2005. |
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