A LIBRARY which has controversially transferred all of its books into a new premises across the road has opened its doors to the public for the first time since the move.

Dalton Library is now based in the community centre, known locally as the Drill Hall, in Nelson Street, after the former Carnegie building, which had housed the library for more than 110 years, was officially shut.

Dalton councillor Wendy Maddox viewed the new-look library for the first time this morning.

She said: "I still think it's a shame the other building has gone and I've had a number of complaints about why we can't keep it.

"It has caused us a lot of hassle in Dalton and it is a reduced library. It has been busy this morning but that's probably because people are just being nosey.

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"I am disgruntled that the old building has gone because we never used it to its full potential. Every Carnegie building was built for a library so I just think it's really sad to see it go."

Margaret Plumb, 64, from Barrow, also came along to take a sneak peek of the new premises and she admitted that she would have preferred the library to stay within the Carnegie building.

She said: "I would rather have had the library stay across the road because it's a stunning building but economically it wasn't viable so this is a common sense solution.

"We seem to be losing all of the lovely limestone buildings in Dalton but you can't complain about the service that the library offers and the staff here are a major asset.

Cumbria County Councillor Barry Doughty, who is chairman of Dalton Community Association, has helped to renovate the community centre over the last eight years and is delighted that the library is now based in a building which is central to the town.

He said: "We welcome the library moving to the community centre and we hope that there will be a bigger footfall of people using the facilities with the extended opening hours.

"It is sad that an iconic building has to close but we welcome any investment which may happen there and that building will always be there."

He believes that with the addition of the library, 1,500 people will walk through the doors of the community centre every week and hopes this will only serve to strengthen its purpose as a central hub for everyone in Dalton.

Mr Doughty added: "A library is about people and not about buildings. We hope that this move will bring people together and help it to develop even further. Libraries all over the country are closing and it's important to remember that Dalton has not lost its library."

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As a result of the move, the library is now open from 9am to 7pm every day meaning it now provides an extra 20.5 hours of opening times.

No staff have lost their jobs but only one member of staff will now be based at the library on a Wednesday with a self-service machine allowing people to take out books across the other four days.

The building across the road, which was purchased by Andrew Carnegie in 1903, has now been fully closed and will be sold on in the near future.