St. Paul Central Library reopens with modern focus

St. Paul's flagship library opens its doors again on Saturday.

The George Latimer Central Library was closed for four months for a $1.3 million renovation, and its new incarnation illustrates the shift toward a digital focus at the state's premier libraries.

Make no mistake, there are still stacks and stacks of books there. The magazines, CDs and movies are all lined up on the shelves, as ever.

But upstairs, the digital revolution has moved in to stay.

"This mission of a public library has not changed in over 100 years," said Peter Pearson, head of the nonprofit Friends of the St. Paul Public Library, which financed the renovations. "But what's changed are some of the tools that people use. Because the mission is still about self-directed learning and education and supporting people's educational needs and goals. As well as entertainment, obviously."

The renovations added three soundproof rooms — two recording studios and a mixing booth. There will also be a laser engraver, 3D printer and a sewing machine, along with staff to help visitors use the equipment.

It's a library for the Internet age, when content comes in the form of shape files and Pinterest posts, as well as books.

But there's a nod as well to the history of libraries in Minnesota: St. Paul's began as YMCA reading room, before the Central Library was opened 99 years ago. That open, casual space is back on the second floor, with computers and the reference desk to one side.

The library had a $16 million interior makeover that was completed in 2002. Its Italian Renaissance revival style and Tennessee marble exterior remain — along with the attached James J. Hill Center — a sedate monument opposite the castle-like Landmark Center on Rice Park.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said the renovation adds to the intellectual infrastructure he wants the city to maintain regularly, not every other generation or so.

The goal, Coleman said, is "to be able to take not just the Latimer Central Library, but Sun Ray, Highland Park, the new facility at Arlington Hills and create 21st-century library systems and adapting as we go along, not waiting for 50 years to say, 'Oh, we should have done something like that 20 or 30 years ago.'"

The library reopens Saturday at 11 a.m. with the traditional Saturday morning puppet show, followed by tours at noon and 4:15 p.m. as well as a variety of other programming.

Some of the newest features will be available in coming weeks.