$4.8 million renovation of Joliet’s Black Road branch library begins

Curbside services began Monday at the Joliet Public Library’s Black Road branch now that renovations have begun.

Megan Millen, Joliet Public Library executive director, said the renovation of the Black Road branch was part of the library’s strategic planning process, as was the renovation of the Ottawa Street branch.

Renovations at the Ottawa Street branch were completed in 2022.

“After a several-year process of figuring out our space needs and working with architects, we are now at the beginning – literally the beginning – of the renovation process,” Millen said.

The library is working with Engberg Anderson Architects.

The library will remain open for “browsing and quick visits” with very limited seating and no access to study or meeting rooms, according to the library’s Facebook page.

Currently, adult services are located in the large meeting room, circulation is in the entryway, and youth services are near the entrance.

Millen said the Black Road branch may occasionally close during the renovation.

“It’s a much smaller library than Ottawa Street, which we never needed to close,” she said. “We had space to move around, and it was safe to do so.”

Millen said Phase 1 began June 30, when the library closed through July 6, and desks and materials were moved to their new location.

Phase 1 includes “everything” except meeting rooms, staff mezzanine and a small area of youth services that’s currently in use, which will be renovated in Phase 2, Millen said. Phase 1 should be completed this winter and Phase 2 in late spring, she said.

The $4.8 million renovation at the Black Road branch will include fresh paint and carpet, separate youth and adult zones, a newly designed children’s play area, more study and collaboration rooms, an improved circulation desk and upgraded vending options, but not a full café as the library had in the past.

The project is being funded with a $3.5 million loan from the city of Joliet, $635,000 from the library’s special service fund, $350,000 from a state grant, $300,000 from a bequest from a former trustee who died, and about $15,000 in donations, including a donation from the Friends of the Library, Millen said.

Millen previously said she sought state funding for the Black Road branch remodeling.

However, the most the library could receive from the state was $360,000 due to the size of the $6.3 million grant for the renovations at the Ottawa Street branch, she previously said.

So that money would pay the architect, Millen said.

City officials previously said the library will pay an interest rate tied to U.S. Treasury bonds, which otherwise would be used as an investment for the money.

Millen said the city’s loan repayment schedule is $200,000 a year.

“If you divide that by all the people in Joliet, it’s really going to be a very small pull on each taxpayer,” she said.

Millen likens the library’s renovation needs to what a home needs after 20-plus years.

“Especially if you had a thousand people walking through it each week,” Millen said.

The library furnishings, carpeting and wall coverings “have seen great wear and tear” since the Black Road branch was built, Millen said.

Joliet funded the construction of the Black Road branch, which was built in 2002.

“It was just meant to be a neighborhood reading room,” Millen said. “Nobody foresaw all the expansion that took place all around Black Road.”

The Black Road branch saw 183,520 visitors in 2023 and experiences more foot traffic than the Ottawa Street branch, library officials said in 2024.

For updates on the Black Road branch renovation, visit jolietlibrary.org.