Update on Dayton Metro Library upgrades
Electra C. Doren Branch, 701 Troy St., has opened to the public.
The renovation and expansion project for the Miami Township Branch, 2718 Lyons Road, is scheduled to be completed in October.
Northwest Branch will open next year. This new library is replacing Dayton View, Fort McKinley, and Northtown-Shiloh and is being built at the corner of Philadelphia Drive and Hillcrest Avenue.
The Dayton Metro Library construction project begins a new phase this week when the main library moves into a temporary location while work is completed on the main building downtown.
The main library is undergoing $63.6 million renovation and construction project. It will move from 215 E. Third St. to a temporary location at its Operations Center because of the construction.
The temporary library will be located on the first floor of the Operations Center, 12o S. Patterson Blvd., which is the former Hauer Music Building and two blocks south of the current main library.
“We had hoped to be out of here earlier in the summer. It took a little longer to get that stair tower built,” said Jayne Klose, the library’s community engagement manager.
The main library is scheduled to close at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday and remain closed during the following week. The library’s call center and website, including the digital collection, will remain in service during that time.
The temporary library opens to the public at 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 21 for regular library operating hours:
- 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
- 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
- 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays, beginning Sept. 27
The genealogy and local history collections have already relocated temporarily to 359 Maryland Ave.
The renovation and construction project is part of a Libraries for a Smarter Future system-wide facilities upgrade made possible after Montgomery County voters passed a $187 million bond issue in 2012.
“All of our buildings were aging. The average branch was 50-years-old … They were just inadequate for today’s libraries. They lacked meeting space, which is a critical piece for libraries. They lacked the wiring to handle today’s technology,” Klose said.
The library system is currently finishing up segment one and has already started segment two of the overall project, according to Klose.
This multi-phase, multi-year project includes consolidating branches from 20 to 16, establishing an offsite operations center and completely renovating the main library.
The whole project is scheduled to be completed in 2017. However, the new main library is scheduled to open in late summer or early fall of 2016.
The new library will feature below-ground public parking, a multi-use auditorium, flexible meeting and performance spaces, new children’s and teens areas, a technology lab, quiet reading room, increased bandwidth up to 1 Gigabit for faster WiFi and wired network service, new and popular materials that will be in an easy-access marketplace, reading rooms with fireplaces and views of Cooper Park, original artwork by local artists and a public space expanded from 28,000 square feet to approximately 100,000 square feet.
Initial site construction has been underway at the downtown library since December of 2014.
For more information on the project, visit DaytonMetroLibrary.org.
About the Author