Town Hall pop-up library closes ahead of grand opening

The library will be almost double its previous size thanks to opening up the floor previously for staff only.

The library's first floor will feature private glass-walled meeting rooms, as well as a makers space containing 3D printers, sewing machines and facilities for art classes.

Downstairs there will be a dedicated paradise for children containing trees and cubbies for playing in.

The area will include amenities to make library visits a bit easier for families including change room facilities, plenty of comfy seating and a spot for a hot drink.

The redevelopment project for the library on Creswick Road was announced in 2021 with an estimated cost of $7.5 million, with the council mostly footing the bill bar $500,000 from the Victorian Government's Living Libraries Infrastructure Program.

Council committed $6.7 million to the project which was originally anticipated to be completed by 2023.

This was underspent in the 2022-23 financial year but the remainder has been brought forward for the final stages.

In the 2023-24 budget, $3.2 million has been set aside for the rest of the development.

During the redevelopment, thousands of books called the Town Hall home as a temporary library venue.

The venue had an average of 1100 visits per week.

Now those books and other resources need to be returned to their home library ahead of the opening.

The temporary Ballarat Library at Town Hall closed Sunday, March 10 which means there will be a period where Ballarat will have no services available in Ballarat Central - the nearest being the Sebastopol Library and Wendouree Library.

City of Ballarat mayor Des Hudson noted the importance the library had to the community.

"Once the Ballarat Library is complete and operational, we'll be able to offer our community a bigger and more exciting library space," Cr Hudson said.

When the Ballarat Library re-opens, staff will be operating a reduced programming schedule for a few months to allow library staff to fully set up at the new facility so some programs that community members regularly attend may be temporarily unavailable.