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St. Joseph County Public Library Unveils Plans For Main Branch Renovation

St. Joseph County Public Library.

 

The St. Joseph County Public Library is moving forward with a plan to completely overhaul its main branch in South Bend.

The renovations will put an emphasis on community meeting space and technology. It will add a courtyard, meeting rooms, an auditorium and a tech center.

Debra Futa is the executive director of the St. Joseph County Public Library. She says they looked at what people were actually using the library for to come up with the plans for what the refurbished library should look like.

“I think people don’t realize how much libraries are doing for things like workforce development and technology training, which we’ve been doing a lot of for years, and outreach for young children and all of those things that really make a community a better place to be.”

Futa says there will always be books in the library, but other priorities will be front and center in the new space.

She says they will be in the design phase for most of 2019 and hope to bid the project at the end of next year. The $36 million renovation is expected to be finished sometime in 2021.