Aurora Public Library District’s Eola Road branch is temporarily downsizing into what officials are calling “Eola Express” during ongoing renovations.
The far East Side library branch has been closed since Sept. 22 as renovations there move from phase one to phase two. When the branch reopens Monday, Sept. 29, the section of the library which so far has been open during renovations and the library’s main entrance will be closed.
The library’s most popular and newest materials as well as its most popular services will still be available at the downsized Eola Express, which will be located within the portion of the library renovated during phase one of the project. To access Eola Express, patrons will need to come in through the entrance facing the baseball fields that was previously closed during renovations.
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Construction is planned to be complete in August 2026, according to Aurora Public Library District Executive Director Michaela Haberkern. But, she said this next phase of the project is the most complex, so delays would not surprise her.
On Wednesday, workers from a company specializing in library moves could be seen packing up books and deconstructing shelves in the part of the library that was open since construction started earlier this year.
During a tour of the site, Haberkern told The Beacon-News that the renovation will be adding around 9,000 square feet to the building in part by reclaiming space currently taken up by the library’s large staircase, among other spaces.
In addition to overhauling the building’s interior, the renovation will also be adding on to the building, in part to make room for a new meeting room with seating for up to 150 people.
“I think that’s going to be huge in this community,” Haberkern said of the new meeting room.
It is important for a library to serve patrons the way they use libraries now, according to Haberkern. The Eola Road branch and the West Aurora branch of the library system were both built in the 1990s, she said, and much has changed since then.
“We have to evolve and serve our community as it is now,” she said.
Public input was gathered when the library system was planning for the renovation, and that feedback was incorporated into the final design, Haberkern said. One thing the community wanted was better spaces for kids and teens, and patrons will definitely see that in the newly-renovated library, she said.
Library officials heard through focus groups with teens and those soon to be teens that they wanted spaces for crafting, for study and for gaming, she said, and the renovations will incorporate all of those.
Not only is the teen room going to be expanded, but so is the children’s programming room, according to Director of Marketing and Communication Miriam Meza-Gotto. Haberkern said it was not unusual during story time for over 50 children, some with their caregivers, to be packed into a room that was not designed for that many people.
In addition to the new large meeting room and the expanded teen and children’s areas, phase two of the renovations will also be adding new study and meeting rooms, an outdoor reading terrace and a special ceiling to reduce noise, among other things.
Phase one of the project, which was recently completed, overhauled areas that will one day be a cafe-style sitting and social reading area as well as a maker space.
The library’s first maker space, located at the downtown Santori Library, was “super popular right away,” according to Haberkern. She said people were asking for one at the Eola Road branch, too, so the newly-renovated library will include one that holds not only high-tech equipment like 3D printers and laser cutters but also things like sewing machines, depending on what people want.
But until the full reopening, that newly-renovated area holds Eola Express.
Haberkern said it will be sort of a “browse-and-go experience” that offers new and popular materials. There will also be some public computers and copiers, and staff will offer the popular notary service, there will just be less space to study and work, she said.
Plus, as there isn’t space in Eola Express, she said the library’s programming will happen outside or out in the community.
Staff employed at the Eola Road branch will not be laid off, and each will be working at least one day at Eola Express, according to Haberkern. The rest of the time, she said, they may be working at the Santori library, the West branch or in the district’s Bookmobile.
The Aurora Public Library District is bracing for Eola Express to do the same circulation numbers as the full library, based on staff’s experience the last the time branch was renovated in 2003, Haberkern said. Up to this point in the renovation, she said, circulation numbers have been the same before and after construction started.
While the Eola Road branch gets renovated, the library system is planning the renovation of the West branch. As construction winds down on the Eola Road branch next year, Haberkern said, work at the West branch could be starting up.
And just like what is happening at the Eola Road branch, she said the West branch will stay open during those planned renovations.
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