The Malta Library and Information Association notes with great interest and pleasure Renzo Piano's quoted statement: "The building will not only house Parliament but a public library too, as suggested by a group MaLIA that joined the fray..." (June 22).

MaLIA is the group, that, in early October 2008, through a press release, proposed that this important location in Valletta merits a cultural centre that includes a Public Library.

This press release was issued just a few days before the Prime Minister launched his renewed vision for the regeneration of this area in Valletta. MaLIA since this press release has over the past months been actively, even if quietly, promoting the idea for a modern state-of-the-art public library in Valletta, with the key players in this project.

We reached the public through an i-petition on our website and through a Facebook group by the name State-of-the-art Public Library/Culture Centre in Valletta Malta. Both groups found considerable public support.

MaLIA's view is that the present central public lending library in Floriana (down a steep hill cut off from other public activities) is not in an ideal location. The ideal location for public libraries should be somewhere central, easily accessible and in a location where people gather in any case for a hundred other reasons. City Gate of course fits these criteria very well. If we hope to stimulate the public's interest in reading and accessing and using information for leisure and study purposes, then an attractive, modern, well stocked and professionally run public lending library is a must.

Such a public lending library would certainly support the Prime Minister's vision of having Malta become a centre of excellence based on the concept of a knowledge-based society.

MaLIA looks forward to seeing this suggested public library take shape and come into use in the coming few years.