OKLAHOMA CITY– The Special Friends of The Village Library have donated $60,000 to help fund renovations to The Village Library teen and adult reading areas.

The Metropolitan Library System budgeted more than $250,000 for renovations to The Village Library to take place in mid-January. The additional funds from the Special Friends of The Village Library, a 501c3 organization that’s mission is to support The Village Library, will allow the library to replace shelving in the teen area and add new lounge seating in both the teen and adult areas, as well as add new display furniture.

The library will be closed for four to six weeks during the renovation and reopen in early March. The full project will include recarpeting and repainting the library interior, removing the reference desk to add additional larger public computer desks, adding a new service desk to replace the circulation desk and relocating staff work areas to make room for additional public study rooms. In addition, a family restroom, a through-wall book return and an additional self-checkout station will be added.

“We are excited to have the opportunity to renovate our library space,” The Village Library Manager Jeanene Barnett said. “These renovations will allow us to better serve our customers by best utilizing our library space to offer more seating areas, study rooms and computers. We are thankful for the partnership with and additional support from the Special Friends of The Village Library.”

The Village Library had a 68 percent uptake in new cardholders since 2017 and a 33 percent increase in digital circulation. Overall, the library serves about 23,000 active customers.

The official dates of the renovation will be announced soon. Library users can visit the library website www.metrolibrary.org or follow the library on Facebook @metrolibrary to stay up to date on the latest library news and announcements.