Date set for Palm Desert library closure

The Palm Desert library will close April 7 to make way for a $3.5 million makeover.

After the library closes for business that day, it will close for about six months of reroofing, repainting and recarpeting, along with installation of an automated self-checkout system with a conveyor belt.

The furniture will be replaced. The number of public computer terminals will triple from 12 to 36.

We outgrew 12 computers 15 years ago, City Librarian Jeannie Kays said.

Officials had expected the work to begin sometime last summer, but bureaucratic delays kept pushing the date back.

There also was uncertainty whether it would happen at all, since it's being paid for by redevelopment funds, which the the state will now absorb.

But the Riverside County Board of Supervisors authorized spending the money in time.

We're very lucky, Kays said.

The library opened in 1996, and opinions are mixed as to whether the carpet, furniture and other features are worn-out enough to warrant the remodeling.

This is a much nicer library than I'm used to having, said Peter Fremstad, a winter Palm Desert resident from Pigeon Falls, Wis. It seems unnecessary, when there's so much of a need for money in other areas of the government.

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Date set for Palm Desert library closure