Te Kete Aronui - Rototuna Library

Great space for youth

A new and exciting library in the area. Size is bigger than ones in St Andrews and Chartwell. All the shelves are about an adults chest height, it creates an open and spacious feeling. Nice cafe on the inside. A number of cubicles, and seating arrangement for those wanting to sit and have a read. Meeting rooms are available but booking and fees are applicable. Good ambience and lighting. with ceiling height glass walls. Good outdoor skate park and a mini Basketball court. But where is the netball court? ( Being the most played sports for young kids in NZ?) Clearly the designer(s) do not play netball themselves. Lots of kids checking out the skate/scooter park and seem to really enjoy it. Maybe this is still under construction but from the carpark, there is no safe passage/path to go out to the footpath on the main road. The only way is to either walk across the shrubs or share the car park entrance with vehicles. This is definitely a health and safety concern for parents with younger kids. (We parked the car on main road).Last but not the least, there aren't enough books on the shelves. The kids book area, the roundabout/circular look like layout, very cramped and sooo small you cannot get to or through it if someone is already there. Very squashed. Variety for non fiction books are very limited although all shelves seemed to be fully stocked but I guess you can request a book online and collect at this site. They also process council bills, parking fines etc. Handy for those who don't want to do things on line. Also there appear to be more than usual sound echoint inside so where the noise level goes up, you have to concentrate more to be able to read what's in your hands. We are excited that it has finally opened but at the same time a wee bit disappointed of what it offers after all the hypes we saw on line. Still recommending others for a visit next time you are in the area. And it is still a good spent of rate payers money given this is the first library on those side of the wairere Drive. And given the actual words of ”Rototuna Library” are NOT used at the start of the name of the library in Google maps etc, people may have trouble getting the correct web search result first time around and you won't be the only one who is confused. Make no mistake, this is a new library, so excitement will linger for the next while. We also chatted on site with others who visited... some of their feedback is that there wasn't really anything special when comparing to other libraries in Hamilton...other than being a brand new library. You be the judge.