New chapter to begin for city's refurbished library

News imageCumberland Council View from the first floor of Carlisle Library looking onto the floor below. It is an open plan area, with new navy carpets and lots of office chairs lined up on the ground floor. Cumberland Council
Carlisle Library has undergone a £3.3m upgrade

A city's library will fully reopen next month after a £3.3m refurbishment.

Cumberland Council said Carlisle Library would open on 4 August after being upgraded with a new children's zone, social areas, adult learning classrooms, study spaces and enhancements to its historic archive, the Jackson Collection.

The phased renovations have seen the library closed since March while the last stage of construction work was carried out on its second floor.

Cumberland Council assistant director of customer solutions Alison Graham said: "This investment is about much more than improving a building - libraries play a vital role at the heart of our communities."

The library, on the first floor of The Lanes shopping centre, first opened in April 1986.

Throughout the refurbishment, library services have continued to operate, most recently from a temporary location at the site.

The library transformation forms part of Carlisle's wider £19.7m Town Deal Investment Plan, mainly funded by the government.

Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.