By: Alyssa Ochss | St. Clair Shores Sentinel | Published January 27, 2026
ST. CLAIR SHORES — Renovations at the library are underway with added details that have pushed the opening date back a little bit.
St. Clair Shores Library Director Stephanie Fair said the construction completed right now includes things such as electrical, plumbing and HVAC. All the work is expected to be done around May.
“We’ve added additional scopes to the project so that’s why our anticipated date has moved to May 2026, because we were projecting April of 2026,” Fair said.
While removing the ceiling paneling, workers found additional lighting underneath it.
“That has been removed and because that was found and removed, we’ve looked at adding additional scopes of work that included raising the ceilings in one of the areas that had a lower ceiling for (a) portion of the library,” Fair said.
Councilman Ronald Frederick said workers are starting to put drywall up and working with a couple of drains.
“Once you get all the walls built and painted and the ceilings hung and everything like that, the biggest thing is you’ve got to move all the books back,” Frederick said.
He said a big task will also be setting up the makerspace, the children’s area and the teen area. Frederick said he is also excited for the new genealogy area.
“The most amazing thing to me is even with the library being closed through like Hoopla and Overdrive and all that we’re still well over 4,000 items checked out through e-circulation,” Frederick said.
The library is still functional. It offers curbside services as well as children’s programs at City Hall and to-go kits for both adults and kids.
“We’re working on supplying adults and children with things to do they could normally (do) inside the library as well,” Fair said.
Patrons can access curbside service by placing an item on hold and pulling into one of six curbside spots in the library parking lot. Posted signs show the library’s phone number and patrons can use the prompt to access the services.
Along with holds, the library is also renewing and issuing new library cards and continuing its printing services.
St. Clair Shores is part of a library system called the Suburban Library Cooperative. Patrons can send their books to other library branches inside the cooperative if they choose to do so.
“What other library directors are telling me is that they are seeing our patrons at some of the local libraries in the area,” Fair said.
Fair mentioned that the Roseville Public Library is going through renovations and that it is doing curbside pickup as well. Fair said Harper Woods and Eastpointe have seen some St. Clair Shores patrons.
At a recent City Council meeting, Councilman Chris Vitale showed a picture of an old drink can found in the library. Fair said besides an old book, no other historical artifacts have been found.
“My husband who is in construction says that you will usually find objects within the walls or writing within the walls because people like to leave something behind,” Fair said.
The drink can has been saved.
Frederick said they are basically on budget for the project except for a couple of things that had to be taken care of after the fact.
“But we’re in good shape,” Frederick said.
He said the last renovation was in the 1970s.
“What they did in there was signs of the times from the ’70s,” Frederick said. “Now that it’s the ’20s, we wanted to bring it up not only to code but to bring it up to something that we can be proud of.”
Fair said construction has been going smoothly.
“The anticipated opening date isn’t (because of) anything that hasn’t been running according to plan. It’s just like I said, those added scopes,” Fair said. “It didn’t really come to a surprise that we added on a little bit of time.”
For a full list of cooperative libraries, go to libcoop.net. To find out more about library events and services, go to scsmi.net.