Martin De Ruyter/Stuff Looking across the Maitai River to the existing Elma Turner Library, behind trees on right, and the site for the proposed Riverside library on the far left. The proposal to build a new $44m library in Nelson's Riverside Precinct is one of the most expensive projects considered by the Nelson City Council in recent memory. An architect’s report commissioned by the Nelson City Council in 2019 stated that while library continued to deliver a high level of service, the current building was described as “tired”, unsuitable for contemporary library operations, and not adequate for Nelson’s current (and projected) population.