Inside Darlington Crown Street Library during £3.2m restoration

Its outside is scarred by scaffolding and hidden by hoardings, while its insides are being hollowed out. Much of it now is a building site with barely a book in sight.

This, though, is all part of progress, all part of a delicate balancing act which hopes to help the grand Victorian institution find its feet in the 21st Century now that the threat of closure has been lifted.

The first artist’s impressions show how the £3.2m refurbishment is going to create light, airy rooms within the Gothic building full of comfortable workstations and collaborative areas.

How the new look adult lending library of Darlington library is going to look, with a new toilet block at the top. The 1933 side entrance to the library is in the bottom left hand corner while the lift entrance is in the bottom right

Beyond the hoardings, the library is still open with as many of its functions as possible crammed into its northern, older end which dates from 1885. Work has begun behind the hoardings on the larger, southern end, which dates from 1933.

Everything has been removed from it so workmen can get up to the glass ceilings which for decades have let in nearly as much water as they have light. This has meant erasing the old room layouts on the ground below, allowing their usage can be rethought, retaining the best bits from the past but ushering the library into an era when computers are more important to students than a vast set of encyclopaedias and a Netflix box set is most relevant to readers as they come to choose their books.

Darlington Library Manager Suzy Hill and Cllr Andy Keir inside the adult lending library - that's a new toilet block going in on the left, as shown below. Pictures: SARAH CALDECOTT

In 2016, councillors voted to close the library and move its services into the Dolphin Centre to save £300,000-a-year, but the public outcry forced a rethink – and perhaps even a change in the political make-up of the council. A new Conservative-led administration was elected in 2019 and is now overseeing the library’s reshaping.

“It feels as if we have been walking through molasses with the pandemic and then bats were found which held us back for a bit, so it is great that work has actually started,” says the new deputy leader of the council, Andy Keir. “The response from the public to keep the library was an eyeopener and we have recognised that.”

The reaction to the proposed closure showed that the imposing Gothic building is well loved by older residents but the austere façade can look daunting to youngsters who need much encouragement to step over its threshold to find the treasures inside.

An Edwardian postcard showing the 1885 original library before the 1933 extension on the right was added

“It’s a hugely intimidating building – you can’t see what’s happening inside, and when the doors were opened, people were presented with a big heavy long desk with librarians behind it,” says Suzy Hill, the young library manager.

“We want to make it more psychologically accessible, with nice open walkways so people will want to move into the spaces. It will look more like a shop, and it will have books right in front of you – say, quick picks from the latest Netflix series.”

Librarians will no longer be tethered behind their desk. They will, like shopfloorwalkers, be out among the books, helping people make their choices.

But before Suzy gets too carried away with the newness of it all, she says: “It will look fairly similar to what it does now. We want to keep the feeling of a traditional library in sense of study and borrowing.

“The majority of people really value the historical atmosphere so we will give it a touch up.”

Inside the renovation of Darlington Library. Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

When the first phase is reopened, hopefully in January, it will have a new parquet floor, as opposed to the tired burgundy carpets, and new uplighting will encourage people to look to the distinctive ceilings and roofspaces.

It is hoped that the public will re-orientate the way they use the building. Rather than entering through the 1933 side entrance, they will come in through the 1885 vestibule, as originally intended, with its splendid tiled floors and glass ceilings. It is a fabulous entrance, although the new design brief perhaps overcooks the library’s books a little when it says: “Visitors will enter an exquisite space certain to astonish and amaze, with the prominent historical features sympathetically restored, enhanced and showcased.”

But this hyperbole shows how important the balance between ancient and modern is going to be.

Once in the vestibule, the visitor will have the art gallery on one side and, on the other, the local studies centre, which houses Darlington’s extensive and important collections of its past. Next to the centre is a dark office which was the Ladies Reading Room when the library first opened. It is going to be reborn as a reminiscence room for older people.

If the visitor goes straightahead from the vestibule, they will go into the former e-library, which is to be renamed “the hive” as it is hoped it will be full of activity, of people making and learning.

How the new look "study" area of Darlington library is planned to look

Then the visitor will go through into the former reference library, which is to be renamed “the study” where people can use the latest computers to access information. There is also going to be a drinks machine in here for the first time.

The lending library and the junior library are to remain in their existing rooms in the 1933 wing, only refurbished and, again for the first time, with adequate toilet facilities.

There seems to be real excitement about the look of the children’s library which, should negotiations conclude successfully, will be themed around one of the most popular picture books of recent years.

Darlington Library Manager Suzy Hill and Cllr Andy Keir inside the renovation of Darlington Library. Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

The old air conditioning outlet in Darlington library

“The junior library should be a magical area,” says Suzy, who started as Bookstart Co-ordinator reaching out to children 13 years ago. “In the consultation, people wrote about the importance of their memories as a child coming into the library and we hope that the design will impress all ages.”

The junior library also has to get children hooked on books so that they start a lifelong usage of the library.

Libraries have an important inclusive role to play for those families can’t afford expensive computers and broadband access, and that role is becoming more important as the cost-of-living crisis bites. “A library is the only place you can linger without spending money,” says Suzy.

Darlington Library Manager Suzy Hill and Cllr Andy Keir inside the renovation of Darlington Library. Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

But, in the 21st Century, where every fact is downloadable within seconds, libraries have to become places where people can escape the world and lose themselves in a story or activity.

“We are not doing this refurbishment just to store some books,” says Suzy. “Some people would love us to do that but that is not what we doing this for. A library is a place for education, creativity, self-development and enjoyment. It is so important that people enjoy coming to libraries.

“Libraries are for everyone, and we hope there will be something for everyone.”

If the balance is right between the past and the future, the campaigners and all Darlingtonians will be able to recognise the library as a valuable asset to the town centre.