The West Des Moines Public Library will close for at least six weeks starting March 1 as the library enters the final stage of its nearly 18-month renovation. During the closure, contractors, engineers, movers, furniture vendors and library staff will re-open areas of the building currently closed, finish design and structural work, install new furnishings, fixtures and technology, re-install shelving currently in storage and assess, sort and re-shelve 30,000 library materials stored off site since the beginning of the project.
The roughly $1.8 million renovation began in October of 2019 and has progressed in several phases since, finishing with the creation of a dedicated teen area on the first floor. The West Des Moines Public Library Friends Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports the library, donated over $300,000 of private funding to the construction of that area.
During the closure, curbside service will continue weekday evenings Monday to Thursday from 4pm to 7pm and on Saturdays from 10am to 2pm. Curbside service will not be available on Fridays. Hours are to allow movers, contractors and library staff to safely work throughout the day.
Patrons can place holds through the library’s online catalog, available on the website at wdmlibrary.org. Staff will answer phones to coordinate item pickup during curbside service hours.
Questions and reference inquiries will be accepted via email and answered as staff are available. Patrons wishing to contact library staff during the closure can send questions to library@wdm.iowa.gov
“Although closing the library to in-person use for this last phase of the renovation is not ideal, curbside service will continue, and the end result will definitely be worth it,” says West Des Moines Library Board of Trustees President Mary Brooks.
Updates on the Renovation progress can be found here: www.wdmlibrary.org/renovation
