New carpet for Redding Library will result in modified services this fall

The Redding Public Library will be closed from Aug. 1 to 4 for a carpet replacement project. The closure will allow materials and equipment to be moved to the library’s community room, which will reopen to the public on Aug. 5.  

When the library reopens it will be only on a limited basis. Over the next few months, through the end of October or November, the only open part of the library will be the community room where staff will provide a small browsing collection, holds pickup, a public printer and access to public computers. The library’s hours will also be limited to Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

When asked why the carpet replacement project spans for several months, Director of Community Services Travis Menne explained that the original carpet has to be pulled out from almost the entire 55,000-square foot building, necessitating that all of the furniture and materials first be removed and then reorganized once the new carpet is installed. 

The city received funding from the California State Library’s Building Forward Grant for the carpet replacement. The project was supposed to start earlier this year, but was postponed “due to material lead times and a tight timeline for installation between when the contractor was onboarded and when the library would begin summer reading programs,” according to the press release. 

“We wanted to avoid any impacts to the library’s Summer Reading Program, an essential part of community literacy, so we pushed the carpet replacement project back to the end of summer, instead of the beginning,” Menne said in the press release. “Additionally, there were material delays that would have put us into that challenging window, so it made sense all around to move it back.” 

The project will cost $798,000, which covers the design process, staff time, materials and contractors. The new carpet will replace original carpet, which was installed in 2007 when the library opened. After new carpet is installed and the main library reopens, the setup of the library will largely remain the same with some minor reorganization.

“We look forward to an exciting refresh for the Redding Library,” Menne said. “It’s an incredible resource for the community and is worthy of this investment in its future.”

Madison Holcomb is a recent graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She’s reporting for Shasta Scout as a 2025 summer intern with support from the Nonprofit Newsroom Internship Program created by The Scripps Howard Fund and the Institute for Nonprofit News.

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