DENVER — Denver Central Library is entering the final stages of a more than $54 million renovation project.
“This is actually a project that's been planned since about 2016, when we started master planning for it. And we were really lucky that Denver voters in 2017, approved the Elevate Denver Bond. So we've been working on this plan for quite a long time and we were finally able to start construction, kind of at the tail end of the COVID closure. So we began our construction here in winter of 2020,” said Rachel Fewell, an administrator for the Denver Central Library. “It's been a big, big project, we're renovating over 100,000-square feet.”
So far, Fewell said contractors installed new elevators, removed escalators, installed two new grand staircases, and completed a new children’s library space.
“We are continuing to work on a teen space. So that'll be a teen library right on top on the second floor above the children's library,” Fewell said.
The library also recently completed the new event space.
“It used to be in the basement and it used to be hard for people to get to. We had one single elevator so anyone with any mobility issues or people with strollers would have a really tough time getting down there. Now it's on the first floor way more accessible, way more beautiful,” Fewell said. “People can experience that now because the library is open, just in afternoons, primarily Sunday through Thursday. But we're using the event space currently as space to offer services to the public.”
Fewell said the library offers much more than physical books.
“You don't need to use Amazon to get your eBooks and audiobooks, feel free to use the library. We also have a research room that's available to people right now. I think a lot of folks miss going to the fifth floor and exploring our historical documents… we check out all kinds of really cool passes. So museum passes are accessible through us,” Fewell said.
Fewell said at a time when many libraries are facing funding cuts and censorship, Denver taxpayers are pouring more into their library system.
“Libraries are under attack throughout the nation. We at the Denver Public Library have a value of welcoming. We welcome everyone in our community and that means everyone. We want young people, old people, people who are housed, people who don't have houses, we want everybody to come in and use our library and really take advantage of the things that they've paid for. You know, our community has paid for this with their tax dollars, and we want them to have access to it,” Fewell said.
Fewell said Central Library hopes to fully re-open by the end of third quarter in 2024.
