Warrnambool's new $20m library to get $500,000 in new books

Project manager Cathal Finnegan said glass panels were starting to arrive onsite, and the tinted glass panels will be installed from next week.

"What the architects designed is complex, but it's going to be an amazing project for the area," Mr Finnegan said.

"It's a very unique building. Mixing the old heritage into a modern new state of the art development is always exciting."

"We love these types of project because they are a really good challenge."

Tafe's executive manager of corporate services Andrew Long said the project was so impressive that he expected it would be submitted for architectural and building awards.

Tafe chief executive officer Mark Fidge said the architects were "raving" about the opportunity to blend the historical aspects of the site with the new state-of-the-art building.

"It's so unique," Mr Long said. "We're starting to get a lot of interest in it. Momentum is building. Now is the time for the public to become engaged because we have the end in sight."

Mr Long said the project was on track to open in August while other renovations to its hair and beauty section were set to open within weeks.

The council's CEO Peter Schneider said the council had budgeted $500,000 for new books in preparation for the opening of the library.

Mr Finnegan said builders would start installing the feature brass cladding on June 1.

"The feature ceilings will start over Easter and there is a different one on each level and very architectural and will be very impressive," he said.

Mr Fidge said the library and learning hub project was unique to Victoria, if not Australia. "The model itself of trying to bring the community into a place like this is something the Victorian government is really excited by," he said.

"If we get to the point where we have people on the other side of Australia, or the other side of the world, saying 'there's this really cool initiative that we've just got to see', and they come all the way here and it showcases Warrnambool then we've ticked an enormous box."

Mayor Vicki Jellie said there will be people who will come in here that won't ever have come onto the Tafe campus.

She said the co-location of the council-run library at the Tafe site was "brilliant" because of the opportunities it offered to the community and was looking fabulous.

Mr Fidge said the new facility would allow community members coming into the library to also access services offered by students such as hospitality, hair, beauty and massage treatments. "We need the community to be involved in those things for students to get practical experiences," he said.

Mr Fidge said students who were studying remotely at out of town universities would be able to access the library as an educational environment they can study from.

He said the aim was to create a place where kids on the weekends were are asking their parents to take them to, and turn it into a "hangout" for young people.

Boasting some of the best views of the foreshore, the new library is set to feature a cafe, a reading room, meeting rooms and public access to computers and a games and digital zone.

It will also be home to the first jobs hub in regional Victoria.

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