The Toledo-Lucas County Public Library is moving ahead with a long-awaited project to give Sylvania Branch Library its first major renovations since 1989.

Spieker Co. of Perrysburg Township, with a low bid of $3,977,000, was awarded the construction contract Thursday for the branch renovation, which includes two additions to expand the building by 4,000 square feet.

The contractor was the lowest of four bids submitted for the project, which is scheduled to being in Sept. 5. Mosser Co.’s bid of $4,042,500 was the next lowest proposal.

Built in the 1950s, the 18,000-square-foot library will be modernized with expanded meeting rooms, a quiet-reading lounge space with a gas fireplace, a self-serve vending area with seating, and an expanded children’s section.

“We are very excited about the work that will be done there,” Clyde Scoles, director of the library system, told the trustees.

The library system and Spieker have a history. The company was the contractor for the new $7.2 million King Road Branch library, which opened last year.

Library officials are trying to get the word out that library customers can patronize the King Road Library and other nearby branches, including Sanger and Holland, while the library is being renovated. The library will close Aug. 7 and renovations are expected to take about a year to complete.

The work is being paid for through the library system’s building and repair fund, which gets its money through state funding and local tax levies.

The renovation and expansion of the Sylvania Branch was proposed several years ago, but was delayed to allow the system to build the King Road Library, a move that established a second branch to serve Sylvania and Sylvania Township.

A public auction is schedule for Aug. 25 to sell items such as computers, desks, and chairs that will not be needed in the branch after the renovations are completed. The sale will be held at the branch.

The library trustees also agreed to charge a $3 fee to out-of-state residents requesting copies of obituaries from the library’s local history and genealogy department. The service will remain free for Lucas County and Ohio residents.

Jill Clever, manager of the local history and genealogy department, said about half of the nearly 1,800 obituary requests made monthly are for customers who live outside Ohio.

She said the department has sent obituaries to every state in the country as well as Canada and Europe.

The library’s database of obituaries begins in 1835, when the first edition of The Blade was printed. Ms. Clever said people can ask for the information online through the library website or by phone.

“We scan the obituary and email it back to them unless they request it to be mailed to them,” she said, adding the turn-around is about three to four days.

The new fee will go into effect in about two weeks.

Contact Mark Reiter at markreiter@theblade.com or 419-724-6199.

First Published July 27, 2017, 3:00 p.m.