We are happy to announce that, thanks to the generous support of the community, we have reached our campaign fundraising goal for the Library renovation. What a wonderful way to start the new year! This $5.6 million dollar project is well underway, thanks to you, our Library family.
The amount of enthusiastic support we have received is inspiring! As much as Library staff has needed to adjust to continue to offer services, watching the building improvements come together has given everyone a boost of energy. The Large Community Room continues to serve as the place to find great reading material – it boasts Most Wanted books and entertainment, as well as books on hold that you can come in and pick up. The Children’s Area is fully open and running fun programs, with fiber arts and visiting farm animals dominating the month of January. Our Reference Librarians are available in the lobby to help anyone with research questions or a request for time in the computer lab, which is currently operating out of the small meeting room.
Here are a few photos of the what’s happening in the building right now: https://www.bozemanlibrary.org/about/library-news/the-library-during-renovation/renovation-photos
Lighting has already been upgraded throughout the building to be super efficient and effective. The new second floor meeting room is framed and ready for finishing, the upstairs reading room has been opened up for ease of access, the central hub on the ground floor has new sound-dampening ceiling tiles, and the lobby doors have been removed to make the entire Library more welcome and inviting!
The Martel crew and subcontractors are hard at work each day. We have been very pleased with their management of the project and the pace of progress. That said, there have been a couple of unforeseeable delays that have set us back a bit. The mill that makes the carpet went down, so the carpet won’t be arriving until later than expected. At the completion of phase one, most of the Library will again be available to the public. And, most importantly, we can bring the books back, so stay tuned for information on that!
One silver lining is that since some work has been delayed, Martel is using the opportunity to complete portions of the phase two work ahead of schedule. Hopefully that will mean the completion date for the entire project will be earlier than we thought. All of us at the Library are excited to welcome everyone into these new spaces and start offering wonderful new creative, technical, and culinary programs.
