The library building by the City Square, which opened in 2000, will get an interior makeover in a project that may start this spring.

It will include new carpet, some painting, new furniture, and new service desks. Other features will include an adult changing station in a bathroom, a sensory-friendly space and new signs. Automatic doors will be installed at the entrance.

The City Council was briefed on the plan Monday evening as it reviewed the budget for the library.

“We’re a place people count on,” Library Director Rita Schmidt said.

“We provide that welcoming space where people can get connected,” she added. “We’re proud of what we do.”

The library remodeling is estimated to cost $1.1 million.

The separate operating budget for the library for the fiscal year that will begin July 1 is $705,131.

That is up from the current $674,475.

Schmidt said the “core expenditure” is personnel. All of the library’s materials and programs are paid for by the Fort Dodge Public Library Foundation and the Friends of the Library.

The ability to borrow items from the library saves area residents hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to Schmidt.

For instance, she said the ability to borrow books for adults from the library rather than buying them saved local readers $696,696 in fiscal year 2025.

And area residents saved $202,410 by borrowing DVDs from the library instead of buying them, she said.

The most popular book for adults, she said, was “The Housemaid’s Secret” by Freida McFadden, which was checked out 45 times in fiscal 2025, according to Schmidt.