Construction for the Goleta Valley Library has officially begun, nine months since it closed its doors for renovations.

Dozens of city leaders, city staff, library staff, volunteers and community members marked the occasion Thursday with a groundbreaking ceremony at the library site, at 500 N. Fairview Ave.

“Today, we celebrate the start of a milestone project,” Goleta Mayor Paula Perotte said. “Our library service has evolved with the times, but very few changes have been made to the building itself.”

The event took place in the library’s concrete parking lot, so a mound of dirt was brought in for a symbolic groundbreaking. 

“What an exciting day for the Good Land but really for the entire Goleta Valley,” Councilwoman Luz Reyes-Martín said. 

Crews from EJS Construction Inc. seemed to already be working during the ceremony. 

Reyes-Martín shared that the library had nearly 170,000 visits, around 14,000 each month, the year before the library closed. 

“What a powerful story that tells, that Goleta shows up for its library and that Goleta cherishes its library,” she said. 

The library closed in April after the City of Goleta received a $4.2 million grant for a renovation project to modernize the library and make it compliant with current building codes.

The grant requires the upgrades to be completed by June 2027.

Since closing, city staff had to relocate almost everything out of the main site to a temporary location at 6500 Hollister Ave., Suite 105.

“When we learned that the building would be empty for the construction process, a once-in-a-generation opportunity arose to refresh the interior design of the library in addition to updating its infrastructure,” city librarian Elizabeth Saucedo said.

A capital campaign for the interior renovations was approved about four months ago by the Goleta City Council with a $750,000 goal. 

Now, the campaign, which will run until December, seeks to raise $935,895 of a $1.7 million goal after costs have been fine-tuned, according to JoAnne Plummer, the city’s Neighborhood Services director.

The campaign has already raised $764,105 from gifts from Friends of the Goleta Valley Library and the John C. Mithun Foundation, according to library staff.

The John C. Mithun Foundation specifically pledged $550,000 to fund the children’s area, Saucedo told the City Council in January. 

In January, library staff presented the council with a first look at interior design plans.

Some of the biggest changes that patrons can expect to see include study pods, an updated teen area, the rededicated Jake Boysel reading nook, updated lighting and a laptop bar, a place for people to bring their own devices and hunker down to work.

“Each day brings us closer to reopening our doors to the next chapter at the Goleta Valley Library,” Saucedo said.