Sleek new QC Public Library now open for all bibliophiles

Mayor Herbert Bautista on Monday officially opened the doors to the Quezon City Public Library together with City Librarian Emelita Villanueva.

Photos of the three-story building and its facilities quickly caught the eye of social media users.

Aside from the over 15,000 books in the main collection, the library offers computers for public use as well. The library also houses a cafe, a children's corner and puppeteer's room, and a function room.

The first floor of the library has the reference section, periodicals, Filipiniana section, and local history and archives on offer. The second floor contains law research, technical services, extension library services, district libraries and inventory and multi-media extension.

The new central library is located at the Quezon City Hall compound. In a press statement, Mayor Bautista revealed that he and Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte had been planning the "dream project" since 2010.

“Is there really a need for a library, a physical library? We have e-libraries and of course, unreliably Google and Wikipedia. These are all unreliable sources,” Mayor Bautista said in his speech during the inauguration. "The best source for research is still the library, and what we can see and can be found inside the library are books authored by credible authors, thoroughly researched papers and documents."

From serving 500 clients daily, the new Quezon City Public Library can now accommodate 700 to 1,000 clients.

City Librarian Emelita Villanueva said the expansion of the library is in pursuit of providing quality educational materials to poor Quezon City students.

Read more: QC Public Library opens doors to street kids

Prior to the expansion, the Quezon City Public Library has been recognized by the National Library of the Philippines, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Department of Information and Communications Technology for the service it provides to the public. —ALG, GMA News