CARLSBAD -- With some 150 people in attendance, Carlsbad's leaders opened a $6 million library Saturday that will help adults learn to read and Spanish-speakers gain proficiency in English.

"The programs and activities that occur here in this building, I guarantee you, are going to change lives," retired library Director Cliff Lange said during the dedication ceremony.

The two-story structure at 3368 Eureka Place, just east of Interstate 5 at Chestnut Avenue, provides a long-sought home for two special library services -- the Adult Learning Program and the Centro de Informacion.

Centro, a bilingual library collection founded in 1991, has occupied a portable trailer for years at Pine Avenue Park. In that trailer, the children's story-time room was so small that it looked like a walk-in closet.

At the new location, dozens of children can fit into the story-time area, and it has its own separate entrance so library staffers can offer after-hours programming.

Meanwhile, the upstairs of the 11,000-square-foot facility is devoted to literacy tutoring.

"I was telling someone that it's like going from a row boat to the QE-2 (ocean liner)," former learning program coordinator Lynda Jones said.

The adult literacy program, which was founded in 1984, has been housed in cramped rooms in rented office space on Pio Pico Drive.

Volunteer tutors put foam insulation on the walls of their tiny cubicles to muffle sound and give students privacy while they learned to read.

In the new facility, there's no need for foam insulation. Each tutor has a room with a computer, two rolling office chairs and sliding glass door.

And, there's a whole new collection of books for the adults to read -- books about high-speed machines, medieval warriors, unusual jobs or famous people -- that are perfect for tempting older people into reading, several staff members said.

An hour after the dedication ceremony, Jones still hadn't made it upstairs to look the place over. She wasn't moving very fast because people kept stopping to thank her for her work on the project.

Lange, who has the lobby area named him, said during Saturday's dedication ceremony that the center never would have become a reality without Jones.

"Those of you who know Lynda know how convincing and persuasive she can be," he said, as audience members chuckled.

The city's mayor, Bud Lewis, said the facility might be unique in the state because it combines so many services in one location. In addition to the adult tutoring and the bilingual library collection, the 1-acre site also contains Head Start preschool programs for low-income families.

Library officials have said the place will be a one-stop shopping center where a grandparent could learn to read while a mom takes a parenting class and a child checks out a Dr. Seuss book in Spanish.

The facility officially opens Monday. Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays. Literacy tutoring sessions also are available at other times by appointment.