AUBURN – Work on the city’s expanded city library downtown is wrapping up, with librarians and staff preparing to move back in next month.

The library will close down the Auburn Mall operation on April 8. Staff will take the next month to move into their expanded digs at the corner of Court and Spring streets. The library will reopen on May 8.

It will extend due dates on items checked out before April 8. They’ll all be due after the library reopens and the library won’t charge overdue fines through June 4. Library users can still drop off materials at the Auburn Mall’s return box, on the sidewalk outside the mall entrance near Kay Jewelers.

Renovations on the library began in June 2004. The renovated library, which includes all of the old library and a generous part of the land at the site of the former City Building, will be about 30,000 square feet when it’s done. The old library was about 13,000 square feet.

Planning for the expansion began in 1998, with volunteers raising about half of the $7 million through donations and grants. The city took on about $3.5 million in debt to pay for the rest of the work.

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