Tauranga's central library will close the doors at its current location on Sunday before opening at He Puna Manawa on Monday, April 4.

The newly developed He Puna Manawa occupies the site formerly known as the Goddard's Centre between Devonport Road and Grey Street, and will be a temporary location for the library while the existing Willow Street location is demolished and the civic precinct is redeveloped.

After more than 35 years at the current site, the month-long closedown will allow the library's vast collection of resources to be carefully transferred and rehoused at the new site.

Libraries Manager Joanna Thomas says books are already being sequentially packed into cages and will be moved to He Puna Manawa over the next three weeks.

She says archive items are being organised into boxes, with some shrink wrapped 'for quarantine to ensure no insects make the journey to where they'll be stored off-site”.

Community Services General Manager Gareth Wallis says while the temporary closure may cause some disruption for library goers there are still plenty of options to access library materials.

'Mount Maunganui, Pāpāmoa and Greerton libraries will continue to operate, as will the mobile library service,” says Gareth.

'The digital library also remains accessible for all card holders and is a fantastic way to access e-books, audiobooks and streaming services.”

The Ngā Wāhi Rangahau research collections will be unavailable during the temporary closure however online access remains.

All library items can still be returned to Tauranga Library's Willow street site until Sunday, March 27.

For further details about the closure and move, please visit Tauranga City Libraries website.

More information about Council's plans to redevelop the civic precinct can be found at: www.tauranga.govt.nz/civicredevelopment

Caged and ready to be taken to their new home.