Remodeling begins this week on Aurora’s Martin Luther King Jr. Library using $2.5 million in federal funding, according to a news release Monday.

Construction began Monday on the remodeling project, which will make the building’s second floor accessible by the public for the first time since its construction in 2004, the release said.

The library at 9898 E. Colfax Ave. will be open throughout the construction process, with “minimal disruption” to current services.

The second floor had been used for city offices. But the staff members occupying them relocated during the COVID-19 pandemic, clearing the floor for additional library space.

Once completed in the fall, the space will be a “dynamic hub for creativity, learning and community connection,” the release said. It will include digital media labs, maker spaces, flexible program rooms, and more seating and study areas.

The upgrades are being paid for with federal funding, which was secured through a government appropriations process for community projects led by U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, according to the release.

This is one of the first steps in an overarching process to improve the quality of all Aurora Public Library facilities. City officials are in the midst of a planning and assessment project to determine what the community wants to see in the libraries and how the facilities – some of which are up to 60 years old – can be upgraded and improved, the release said.

Ginger White Brunetti, director of Library and Cultural Services for the city, called the investment in libraries “transformational.”

“Thanks to congressional support, we’re able to expand this cherished library without relying on city funds,” she said in the release. “We’re not just building space — we’re building opportunities for creativity, learning and belonging.”

A public survey is available until Friday on Engage Aurora’s website for community members to give feedback on the Aurora Public Library Strategic Plan, which will guide the future of library facilities.

Aurora Public Library has seven branches throughout the city, a bookmobile and hundreds of programs, according to the release. In 2024, the library system had 560,000 in-person visits, with the Martin Luther King Jr. Library getting more than 70,000 of those visits.