insidecardiff

To no fanfare the revolving doors switched on at 9am sharp and promptly those waiting outside entered the new Cardiff Central library which opened this morning. I was amongst the first to enter to the eyes of librarians watching from over the balconies of the six open-plan floors.

The automated book check-in and out system was working properly, the escalators glided smoothly and the computers were all booted up and ready to be logged on to.

The culmination of years of work, the new Central library, as was promised, looks great and will be a pleasure to use.
The open-plan layout of all the floors meant that noise levels were higher than you would expect at most libraries, but enter one of the enclosed rooms and you will soon be away from this.

David Bowie’s “Life on Mars” started to ring out about 20 minutes after the opening. It seems that one of the first visitors had discovered the white grand piano situated on the third floor and decided to show off his talent, to a round of applause when he’d finished.

My verdict? Definitely a must-see if you’re visiting Cardiff. For locals it will become a great place to meet instead of the pub. Tweetmeet anybody?