REDMOND, OR -- Redmond’s library will soon be on the move, in preparation for a major reconstruction project. Deschutes Public Library Director Todd Dunkelberg says they’ll shift some books to the former Redmond Design Center on South Highway 97 in mid-January. It's about a quarter of the size of the current facility, “It’s definitely a temporary location. We’ll have some popular materials there to checkout, and people can place holds and we’ll have that service going. And then we’ll be doing a lot of work out in the community," Dunkelberg tells KBND News, "So, a lot of the programs that you normally would’ve gone to the library, we’ll be holding at different venues around Redmond."

The current 20,000 square foot library will be torn down and a 40,000 square foot facility built in its place, slated to open in August of 2024. “We’ll have a meeting room that can hold about 240 people, tutor space; one-on-one meeting space where people can meet to tutor people, you could have a Zoom meeting. We’ll have a co-working area, some really neat creative and do-it-yourself areas," says Dunkelberg, "It’ll have a drive-up window in Redmond, so on those cold days where you don’t feel like getting out of your car you can pull up, we’ll hand the books to you."

Redmond's Jessie Hill School was built in 1919 and has housed the library since 1996. Dunkelberg says it's just too small for the community now. "We needed a building of about 40,000 square feet to serve Redmond and how much it’s grown. We started off looking at how could we remodel that building and make it work? And it just didn’t work for us." He says he recognizes it's a loss for Redmond, "It was a really tough decision but we really wanted to be right in the heart of the city of Redmond. And talking with the city of Redmond, they were very interested in keeping us in the same location, as well."

Nearly every branch in the Deschutes Public Library system will be renovated in 2023, as part of the $195 million bond passed by voters in 2020. Dunkelberg says, "Really, the biggest piece of all this is the Children’s Discovery Spaces, that we’re doing in all of our libraries. But that was the number one thing that people said they wanted to see in their libraries, when we went out and talked to almost 7,000 people across the county.”

Click HERE to learn more about the Redmond Library project, and get details on a Thursday open house.