The Midtown Carnegie Branch of the Springfield-Greene County Library will be closed for renovations starting Monday, May 6.
The library district expects the project to last about 10 months. All services there will be closed during that time. Branch Manager Eva Pelkey said staff will be filtering out to work elsewhere in the district during the closure. They’ll be temporarily moving some of their most popular services to other sites.
“We’ll be continuing some small aspects of our makerspace at the Library Center,” Pelkey explained, “as well as our really popular computer training center and our one-on-one tech help.”
Midtown’s story times and book discussions will move to the nearby Fairbanks building at 1126 N Broadway Ave. The Community Fridge will be relocated to the Library Station.
The historic facade of the building along Central Street will remain unchanged. Inside, Midtown Carnegie will get an up-to-date HVAC system. It will also get a new elevator to provide access between all three floors of the building and a new entrance off the parking lot on the northside. That's a change Pelkey said will provide better and more consistent ADA access to the building.
“The outside elevator that brings people in from the parking lot is going to go away,” she said, “and we’re going to replace that with two really large, welcoming ramps that are going to be covered in the new addition; protected from the elements.”
Pelkey said she hopes the new entrance will provide an accessible, reliable and welcoming means to serve their community.
Find more information from the library district at this link.