The Dakota County Library in Farmington plans to close its doors next fall to make way for renovations.

The library is preparing to expand into a 5,000-square-foot space formerly leased to Intermediate School District 917, according to Roseanne Byrne, deputy director of Dakota County Libraries.

The renovation will focus on technology, creating new workspaces and an automated check-in system. Byrne said the new design will be flexible enough to shift as the needs of the library's customers change.

"So it's not going to be just a whole bunch of wired computers sitting in a space," she said. "If we wanted to redo it we would have to rip them all out and maybe take down some walls and that sort of thing."

Byrne said the library will decide on a design this month. If the County Board approves the plan, construction will start in September. The library will close for six to eight months, Byrne said, reopening next spring.

The school district had leased the space for about 10 years, using it as a satellite location for the district's special education program, according to Superintendent John Christiansen. The school has moved the location to a new site in Eagan, he said.

Farmington is part of a string of renovations for the county library system. The county's Eagan, Burnsville and West St. Paul locations have all undergone renovations or relocations in the past several years. The Inver Grove Heights library is also preparing to renovate this year.

The county is searching for a temporary satellite location for the Farmington library. In the past, Byrne said, the libraries have relied on donated space or other public buildings to house popular materials during renovations.