Hradec Králové has a new Study and Scientific Library

Hradec Králové - A new Study and Scientific Library was opened today in Hradec Králové. The construction of the modern building shaped like an X took four years and cost 405 million crowns. It will open to the general public on September 29. In addition to library services, it will also offer a conference hall with a capacity of 100 seats, a literary café, and gallery spaces. The library has been built in close proximity to two new buildings of the Hradec Králové University.
    Originally, the library was supposed to be finished last autumn. According to the library director Eva Svobodová, the reason for the delay was that the state spread the funds intended for the library over this year as well. The construction was financed with 395 million crowns from the Ministry of Culture, and the Hradec Králové Region, to which the library belongs, provided ten million crowns for the interior furnishings.
    In recent weeks, library staff and moving companies have relocated more than 700,000 volumes of books and magazines to the new building. Currently, there are 6,600 readers utilizing the library services. The new facilities can accommodate more than 10,000 readers, and the number of study places has increased from 60 to over 400.
    Readers will now find most of the library's depository under one roof, and their journey for books will be much quicker. The new building will have 120,000 volumes in open access. All books available for lending will be prepared for readers within half an hour, which was not possible before. For example, fiction could only be obtained by readers the next day. Borrowing a book from open access will also be possible through a machine without the help of a librarian.
    The library is still missing some equipment, such as part of the planned 220 computers. "Everything will be fully operational in about a month. However, due to the interest of readers, we did not want to wait any longer to open," said Svobodová.
    Until now, the library operated in rented and cramped spaces in the Jewish synagogue on Pospíšilova Street, in the study room on Eliščino Embankment, and in storage facilities in the Hradec Králové Pouchov. The storage facilities will continue to be used.
    The walls of the library, which was built by the company VCES, are made of gray cast concrete both inside and out. There are no books in the underground floor, and the building is designed to protect the book collection from a hundred-year flood without any problems. The five-story building has also won the title of Excellent Concrete Structure in a competition organized by the Czech Concrete Society. Due to the round windows, local people have started calling the building "Swiss cheese."
    The library will also pose greater demands on the Hradec Králové Region budget. According to the regional councilor for culture Zdeněk Kraus, the annual operating costs of the library were roughly 35 million crowns. Now, according to his estimate, costs are likely to be several tens of millions of crowns higher. The number of employees in the new library has increased by a third to 80 people.
    Following the bus terminal, which opened in July, the library is the second significant construction completed this year in the city of Hradec Králové, which has a population of 100,000.