By: Alyssa Ochss | St. Clair Shores Sentinel | Published July 18, 2025
ST. CLAIR SHORES — As fall approaches, so do the city’s expected library renovations.
Councilman Ron Frederick said they are still not to their monetary goal for the renovations. At the time of the interview, bids for contractors were open and could affect the price.
He said expected renovations will make the library safer for children and teens because the library intends to move those collections to make sure adults and others won’t have to walk by the children’s area to attend events. He also said the area will be brighter for children to interact with books and other media.
“I say books but really it’s the stories,” Frederick said.
The genealogy department will also receive an upgrade by moving it out of the basement and enhancing it. The city will be able to do this due to a donation.
“Everyone seems to want to check their genealogy these days,” Frederick said. “It’s a great thing for us to have that available in the local library.”
St. Clair Shores Public Library Director Stephanie Fair said all renderings of what the library will look like have been completed. She said they had nine contractors submit bids.
“We still have to bring that in front of city council to approve of a bid and which contractor we’ll go with,” Fair said.
They plan on bringing that forth to council at an August meeting.
Fair said the construction is projected to start in September.
Frederick said bids are all over the place with some in line with what they are looking for. More meetings will have to take place to discuss the financials, architectural details and more.
Frederick also said construction preparation includes moving books and bookshelves and putting a plan in place to keep the library open for residents to enjoy during construction.
Moving media will be done by library staff and professional movers.
“It is not a small task to empty shelves, keep them in order, take the shelves down,” Frederick said. “Some of the shelves we might repurpose and actually may have to adjust in some ways.”
Fair is excited for the renovations.
“I feel this is going to have a huge impact on the residents, especially the youngest residents,” Fair said.
She went on to say the grant they received for the renovations focuses on youth services.
“But there are other aspects of the renovation that will impact the library as a whole and some of those alternative options do need to be approved by council, but if they are approved it will allow for a complete refresh of the library,” Fair said.
During ongoing construction, the library will operate using curbside services available for patrons. Fair said specific details are still being nailed down, but they plan to have a “long range” of services available including mobile printing, copying and more.
“Our plans are to operate Monday through Friday from 9:30 (a.m.) to 11:30 (a.m.) at the Selinsky-Green Farmhouse allowing patrons to come in and read newspapers that are available that we have there,” Fair said.
She said a lot of regulars come to the library who utilize those services. Holds, checkouts, returns and more will still be available as well. Some programming will also be available at other locations. Fair said to check the library’s social media streams and scslibrary.org for more updates.
“We’re here. We can answer phone calls, and we’ll provide services. It’s just at a more limited capability of doing so,” Fair said.