Whanganui’s Davis Library to expand by 550sq m if district council gives green light

The Davis Library is next door to the Sarjeant Gallery redevelopment (in the background), meaning its carpark has been out of action for the past four years. Photo / Bevan Conley

Designs for the $2.6 million Davis Library extension are being drawn up - the first step in a plan years in the making.

The building will have 550sq m added to it if the Whanganui District Council decides to greenlight the project in its next Long Term Plan (LTP).

The Davis Library opened in October 1980 at Pukenamu Queen’s Park.

Whanganui District Libraries manager Pete Gray said 500sq m of the extension would be for the public and 50sq m would be for staff and storage, “which we severely lack”.

The project would allow the library collection to be more accessible, he said.

“Some of those shelves are stacked really high.

“As my dad joke always goes, ‘We’re not short-staffed, but we have some short staff’.

“It will also create more room for people to just be in the library - seating of different types and tables - to enable all the different kinds of activities people do in a free, public space.”

Gray’s business case, which is up for consideration in the LTP process, said Whanganui needed 3570 to 3710sq m of public library space to meet the New Zealand Standards for Public Libraries.

All Whanganui libraries combined - the Davis and Alexander Libraries, Gonville Library, Hakeke Street Library, Aramoho Library and Rangiora Street Library - came in at just over 2380sq m.

“Everything that is planned and hoped for is to improve the experience for people using the library.

“Whanganui’s population is growing and the library is already small and crowded.”

When designs were finalised, final costings could be made and external funding sought, he said.

There were 303,000 physical visits to Whanganui libraries and 571,000 issues - including digital - from the start of December 2022 to the end of November 2023.

Gray said the library’s carpark had been out of action since work began on the neighbouring Sarjeant Gallery redevelopment close to four years ago.

Visits to the Davis were up 35 per cent from 2022 but still down on 2019 numbers.

“I think that [lack of carpark] has impacted on people using the library. Books are really heavy, so reducing the distance you’re carrying them makes it easy for people.”

The Sarjeant is due to re-open in mid-2024.

While it was important the library did not “look shabby” next to the Sarjeant, it would continue to have its own identity, Gray said.

The planned library extension will stretch towards Bell St.

Gray said the structural integrity of the existing building, which has 813sq m of public space, was “absolutely fine”.

“We will be building for the long term, not for a short-term fix.”

In his business case report, Gray said with Whanganui’s current population, the library should have around 146,000 items in its collection.

It had 109,000 but shelves were packed, too close together and stacked too high or too low for many customers to easily reach.

While libraries needed to keep up with technology, the demand for physical books in general was not fading, he said.

“I’ve got a hard folder full of articles going back at least 30 years that all predict the imminent death of the book, yet more physical books are being published every year than ever before,” he told the Chronicle.

“The book isn’t going to be dying any time soon.”

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multi-media journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present, his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.