Library of Birmingham

The new £188.8 million Library of Birmingham will open on Tuesday 3 September with a Festival of Celebration to accompany it.

The Library of Birmingham

Carillion, (the principal contractor for the project), will hand over the building to Birmingham City Council in April 2012. Nexus (the specialist move contractor) will then begin the mammoth task of transferring the books to the library. Placed end to end, the Library’s books would stretch from Birmingham to Edinburgh!

Festival of Celebration

To mark the official opening of the new Library of Birmingham, there will be a Festival of Celebration and a series of special exhibitions. The Festival will focus on the theme of Discovery giving Birmingham residents, visitors to the city, and library users, exciting opportunities to experience all the new Library has to offer. It will provide a dynamic mix of events, activities and performance while showcasing the Library’s unique resources, exhibitions and access to expert help for learning, information and culture.

The Discovery Festival will also focus on the new services of The Birmingham Repertory Theatre (The REP), which will be moving back into Centenary Square during the summer after a two and a half year refurbishment and extension of its building. The REP It will also reopen to the public in September 2013, with its first season of productions under the new artistic directorship of Roxana Silbert.

To explore the new Library before it opens 2013 go to birmingham.gov.uk/libraryofbirmingham/virtual to view it in Second Life.

For more information about the Library go to libraryofbirmingham.com