The installation of a passenger elevator and renovations to upstairs restrooms has been completed at the James Prendergast Library.

Tina Scott, James Prendergast Library executive director, said the Phase 2 construction project was completed earlier this month. Improvements include Americans with Disabilities Act upstairs bathrooms and converting a freight elevator into a passenger elevator. Last year, library officials received a $243,000 grant from the state Department of Education through its Public Library Construction program for the project. Library officials also received $77,000 from the Hultquist Foundation that was used as the 25 percent local match, which was necessary to receive the state grant. The second phase of library renovations started in May.

”They did the final walk through last week and the elevator passed inspection,” Scott said. ”The restrooms our beautiful. They’re just so nice, clean and fresh, and it is so much more convenient for people upstairs for story time and meetings. They no longer have to go downstairs.”

Scott said the new passenger elevator makes going upstairs more convenient for users and staff.

”Patrons with strollers for story time can just get right on the elevator in the children’s room. It is just so much quicker and easier for them,” she said.

At the beginning of 2015, construction was finished on the first phase of renovations. Phase 1 improvements included constructing Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant restrooms for men and women on the first floor; adding a family restroom in the children’s room; turning a second-floor storage space into a community room; and creating a new teen space. The library received a $294,000 state grant and $70,000 from the city for the first phase renovations.

Scott said the next possible project at the library is to install new windows in the main reading room. In July, library officials approved applying for a new construction grant worth $163,900. She said library officials will find out in June 2017 if they will receive the state funding to replace the windows.

Window replacement for the facility that opened in 1891 was one of the tasks library officials were planning to accomplish if the funding initiative had been approved earlier this year. Other building upgrades they had planned included updating the HVAC system and a new fire panel for public safety. In June, registered voters in the Jamestown Public Schools District turned down the $850,000 funding initiative. The proposition was voted down by 1,306 residents, which was 60 percent of the vote.