Editor’s note: Because of incorrect information provided to The Blade, a previous version of this story misstated the total cost of library renovations.

The downtown branch of the Toledo Lucas County Public Library is back in the book business — at least it will be come Saturday.

Closed since September, 2018, the main library will unveil its makeover this weekend with a slate of activities. On Tuesday, construction workers and library staff vigorously prepared for the grand opening celebration: putting in last minute light fixtures, organizing aisles of books in the children’s library, and learning new software programs staff can teach library patrons if they please.

The improvements are meant to make the library not just a place for hoarding books, but a learning playground for the community.

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“People want to do other things in their libraries,” said main library manager Meg Delaney. “We want this to be a place where people can discover and learn.”

Some highlights of the $12 million project include moving and updating the cafe, a new gift shop, a community room, a recording and editing studio, teaching spaces, and an expanded children’s library.

To celebrate the finished project the library will host a five hour grand opening to include remarks from community members, music, costumed characters, and activities.

“Saturday is going to look like the best chaos you've ever seen,” Delaney said. “We're going to have our staff here ready to help people and orient them to the new programs and new services. We're also going to have some musicians stationed at different places around the library. We have a treasure map that people can follow and get stamped in different places to make sure that they hit all the parts of the building.

“We have book bikes — a bicycle with an ice cream cart, but the ice cream cart accommodates books. We'll have some light refreshments. We want to welcome people back to their public library. It's been a long time.”

Delaney hopes the celebrations draws thousands of community members.

Library facilities and operations superintendent Mike Graybeal says the library committed to the opening day two months ago, and while most of the visible updates are finished, there are minor details that need more time to complete.

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“There really is never enough time, you always want additional time,” Graybeal said. “There's going to be some minor things that aren't complete. I don't know that many people will notice them — just back ordered items. But we’ll shift and make the spaces beautiful.”

The main floor of the library will house new teaching areas, laptop bars (where people can check out one of 36 laptops for use around the library), large meeting rooms, the gift shop, the cafe, a mini art gallery, gaming station, and a recording studio. Delaney says most of the decisions made about what to add and where to place spaces came from community input.

“We keep track of the questions that people ask us,” Delaney said. “We keep track of what we're able to do for them, but we also keep track of what we're not able to do for them. And those blocks went into our thinking of what should we provide. We also had a number of focus groups with lots of different organizations” offering input.

The renovated children’s library has been reorganized to create a more open space for reading. Previously, the books lined the room wall to wall. Now the walls consist of 3D murals of famous books like The Last Stop on Market Street and Sheep in a Jeep where kids can sit and read in them.

“We wanted to inspire kids and keep the younger generation engaged,” Delaney said.

The updated library also includes a Nancy Drew collection that was donated by Jennifer Fisher, a school readiness room, and a mystery wall.

Aside from the new and renovated spaces there are also new services the library will offer. One of the unique positions is the Welcome TLC librarian, who will provide services to help new immigrants navigate the path to citizenship.

As a “logistically complex” project, Graybeal said it was the best decision to close down the library for renovations and Delaney agrees.

“It is 2019 and it was time to update our model to better match the way people use their libraries,” she shares. “Now it's the 21st century and people are more into experiences. They're more into creating their own content. They're more into that idea of a third place, a place that's not home and it's not work, where they can go and be. ... We wanted to make these updates to really match that 21st century vision of what a community wants their library to be.”

First Published September 26, 2019, 11:00 a.m.