**The Downey City Library reopened Monday after undergoing a multi-million dollar renovation. (Photo by Alex Dominguez)**

DOWNEY – After being closed for over two years, the newly refurbished Downey City Library finally opened its doors for in-house public use on Monday.

The Library closed back in March 2019 for what was originally scheduled to be a 15-month, multi-million dollar renovation under Measure S.

The project was delayed by several months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Even after completion around September last year, the library was unable to physically open due to health and safety protocols.

“We’re as excited as the public, and I have to give all the credit to the staff right off the bat,” said Library Director Ben Dickow. “For over two years, the staff has been basically keeping the library operations running even without a building, but being able to have a home base again is super exciting to us. We’re going to be really excited to be able to see people and welcome them in.”

Operations will still not be totally back to normal as the library will still be operating to maximize visitor and staff safety. Capacity will be limited to 25%, and guests will be held to a one-hour visitation window. Touching of books will not be allowed without the assistance of staff, and some of the more hands-on activities - such as the popular Virtual Reality Lab - are also not currently available at this time.

Still, the community can expect a highly modernized library experience upon their return.

“We looked hard at how people actually use the library, and where people were starting to use the library in the past, and the old configuration wasn’t working” said Dickow. “The old configuration was traditional. Centralized things, people had to go to certain places, wait in line and all that stuff. We tried to eliminate the barriers.”

While an assistance desk and self-checkout kiosks are available, guests will now also be capable of checking out a book from wherever they are in the library with the assistance of a staff member.

“That’s all in-house built; there is no other library that has that capability in the country,” said Dickow. “Our staff built that app from the ground up, so that’s an exciting thing.”

“The second thing is that now we can take books out to the parks and to other places and do transactions wherever we are. It allows the library to live beyond the four walls which is really the overall goal. This is a beautiful building, but we have to be everywhere because not everybody can come to us all the time.”

Dickow added that the previous library design was not accommodating enough to the families with younger children and the high school students coming from across the street.

**Downey City Library staff undergo training before the library reopened Monday. (Photo by Alex Dominguez)**

“We decided to flip the design, open up the children’s area, open up the lounge space – literally called “The Lounge – where you can come in across the street, hang out, do homework, hang out with your friends; you can be loud over there if you want to.”

Prior to the most recent upgrade, the library had not seen any major construction since around 1979. Dickow said the library was now “more of a 21st century learning center than a library.”

“This is a multi-use space, we can reconfigure things as we need to…the technology in here is really baked in,” said Dickow. “This is a place where people can explore, get inspired, and fulfill our mission which is to ignite a community of creative and critical thinkers, and then come back whenever they want to get a boost.”

After 2-year closure, Downey Library reopens