Children's author Anne Fine is to open a technology library.

The County Durham writer, whose book Madame Doubtfire went on to become a cinema hit as Mrs Doubtfire, starring Robin Williams, will visit The Hermitage School, in Chester-le-Street, next month to officially open the school's "Super Learning Centre".

The centre contains a fiction, non-fiction and reference library, a computer suite with a dozen networked computers and a careers library. Students have been able to use the facilities, which replace the school's library, since the start of the autumn term.

Headteacher Ian Robertson said: "It provides students with a stimulating environment to develop individual, independent learning.

"It also provides a range of resources, including Internet access, CD Roms and videos to complement and extend classroom learning.

"We're delighted that such a distinguished writer as Anne, who was Children's Laureate from 2001 to 2003, has agreed to officially open our new centre."

The author, who lives in Barnard Castle, Teesdale, has written more than 40 books and her work has been translated into 25 languages.