Once on the agenda, the move of the public library from its hidden and almost inaccessible location in Beltissebħ to the heart of Freedom Square was no longer on the cards, the Investments Ministry confirmed, amid complaints it had "disappeared" from the plans.

"Renzo Piano may have still been thinking of the original designs when he mentioned a library in the Parliament building," it explained.

"He always referred to the space available at the lower level of the Parliament building and the surroundings as an area of civic pride"; and that is as far as a library can be read into it.

While admitting that a public library had been considered and the government had supported it, the ministry said the idea had started because, initially, the ground floor of the building housing Parliament (not the offices) was pretty bare and afforded enough space for a cultural activity.

At the time, however, one of the ideas was not a lending library in the traditional sense because the overall space - even if completely bare - was never going to be adequate. The thought was more on the lines of a library that would be served exclusively through electronic media.

The idea was subsequently dropped because the Parliament building was rearranged and available free space proved insufficient for the purpose, the ministry explained.

The Malta Library and Information Association may have counted its chickens before they hatched when it praised Piano's plans for a public library in the proposed Parliament building in Valletta.

It was quick to retract its delight when its hopes were crushed, and credit for having successfully lobbied for the centrally located library was short-lived as the original plan gave way to a museum of Maltese history and political development instead.

But neither is that plan set in stone and the interactive experience remains "one of the options the government is considering", the ministry said.

The idea is that the public would have the opportunity to "walk through its national identity", and if it materialises, it would be located in the building housing the offices.