Tūranga opened on a rather nippy Friday 12 October 2018. Since that first day, we have welcomed more than 1,026,403 people to our five-storey library, handily located in Cathedral Square. There will be birthday celebrations on Saturday 26 October, Labour weekend. Saturday's activities include performances by local brass and jazz bands taking part in the Christchurch Big Band Festival, Faitauga Tusi: Samoan Storytimes sessions and a SCAPE Public Art: Touchstones workshop for kids (bookings required), a virtual reality experience, and fun activities on each floor.
Have a look back to Tūranga's wonderful busy first day. Here are the awesome customers. The older lady in the front row with the neat blue hat and winning smile is Marlene; she was officially the first customer to come into Tūranga.
Photos from Tūranga's opening day Friday 12 October 2018.
Here's a video of the virtual reality experience being set up:
Fact fans
- The Discovery Wall at Tūranga has been used over 21 million individual times.
- More than 471,000 items have been issued.
- Over 9000 new members have joined at Tūranga.
- Most popular adult fiction: The Midnight Line by Lee Child.
- Most popular adult nonfiction: Becoming by Michelle Obama.
- Most popular YA book: Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve.
- Most popular children's book: 91-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths.
- Most popular DVD: Bohemian Rhapsody.
Read more:
- Christchurch's one in a million Tūranga celebrates first birthday Newsline, 10 October 2019
- Christchurch library Tūranga hits a million visitors in first year of opening Lee Kenny, Stuff, 10 October 2019
Add a comment to: Happy 1st birthday Tūranga, and Kia ora to the million plus of you who have visited!