Closing a library for renovation isn’t just an inconvenience; it’s a complex operation.
Since the Goleta Valley Library closed last March, materials and furniture have been removed to get ready for the day that construction can start, which happened on Thursday.
"This is such an amazing day for the community," said JoAnne Plummer, Director of Neighborhood Services for the city of Goleta.
The library on Fairview Avenue opened its doors more than 50 years ago and is overdue for significant upgrades and renovations to bring the building up to code and improve accessibility, safety, and sustainability.
"It has never seen really any major improvements, so today is a monumental step," said Plummer. "This space is a refuge to some. It is a gathering location. It's where people come to meet up with friends. It's where people come to study. For some people, it's where they find their internet. It's where they have Teladoc appointments. It's where they do online interviews. It's their purpose to get up in the mornings. So for a lot of people, it's their 'why' for every day."
The library is currently operating out of a small temporary site and using mobile libraries.
Elizabeth Saucedo, City Librarian for the Goleta and Santa Ynez Valley Libraries, said she’s looking forward to the day when patrons can return to the improved library building, which is fit for the modern age.
"Libraries are evolving," Saucedo explained. "That's something that is so wonderful about them, that there are pieces of our childhood memories of libraries that are still the same. We want to have those spaces where you can come in and read quietly, you can study, you work on writing a novel, you can work on a paper, you apply for jobs, you really have those quiet spaces. You can also have areas in modern libraries where kids can be kids. That's really the power of what our interior design project will accomplish, in addition to the infrastructure, which is a grant-funded project. We're doing a separate interior design project, and as our library is really one room, we haven't always had that ability to carve out spaces for the quiet and the noisy, and our interior design layout will do just that."
The project is primarily funded by a grant of over $4 million grant from the California State Library Building Forward Facilities Improvement Program.
Goleta contributed around a million dollars, of which the Friends of the Goleta Valley Library donated $250,000. It’s due to be completed by June 2027.
