Clear blue skies overlooking the golden sands of Mount Maunganui's main beach and Mauao.

What's more quintessential to Tauranga than that?

The Mobile library's new look. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

Nothing, if you ask the designer of Tauranga's new-look mobile library bus, which has had its first facelift in its 16-year existence.

'We see a lot of mobile library buses around the country, and with this one, there is no way this isn't Tauranga's bus,” says Tauranga City Council promotions assistant Daniel Petersen.

After a week under wraps the bus' facelift was unveiled today, sporting a change from the lilac colour scheme to blue, bringing it more in line with the Bay of Plenty and Tauranga City Council.

The design, a six-month project between Daniel and Shayne Bartlett of Marathon Visual Media, sees a woman reading a book on Leisure Island looking back towards Mount Main Beach and Mauao with a touch of pohutukawa.

The photo was taken in November just as pohutukawa were coming into bloom.

Daniel says after throwing around various clichés with libraries customer services team leader Joanna Thomas, it was decided the Tauranga Libraries brand of Te Ao Marama, the World of Life and Light best suited the latest chapter in the vehicle's life.

He adds the design shows off what people associate with the Bay of Plenty and will add an extra lift - particularly in winter.

Assistant mobile librarian Geoff Bissmire with the new paint job. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

'The biggest thing we wanted was for it to brighten people's days on gloomy days and represent why people love being in this part of the world,” Daniel adds.

'We wanted something that that will look good in 2025.”

And the man behind the wheel of the bus on a daily basis is giving the new look a resounding thumbs up.

Assistant mobile librarian Geoff Bissmire says the new colour scheme gives the bus a point of difference, jokingly adding it also helps distinguish it from the variety of house buses.

'It's a wonderful addition because it's more personal to Tauranga and it's more visual,” says Geoff.

'Everyone relates to the Mount and the beach.”

The new paint job comes after the mobile library was off the road prior to Christmas after a car slammed into it on a bend near the Faith Bible College in Welcome Bay on November 10.

The driver of the red Holden Astra appeared to lose control on a bend before hitting the front of the library bus, killing 19-year-old passenger Karanbir Singh.

The mobile library resumed normal service on December 18, offering about 3000 books to the community following a long layoff.

It has been part of the city libraries service since it was purchased in 1999, replacing an earlier model.

Since then the mobile library's main problems have been political, but moves to remove it on budgetary grounds have been overturned by public support for the service.