Washington's MLK Library Closes For Three Years Of Renovations

WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington's central library is now officially closed for several years of renovations.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library closed Saturday and isn't expected to reopen until 2020.

The library system says the updated "flagship" branch will have a large auditorium and conference center, a ground-level cafe, a newly designed special collections space for researchers and a rooftop event space. Construction is to start in the summer.

The library served a large number of homeless residents, and WJLA-TV reports the D.C. Human Services department handed out cards with information on where people can find services elsewhere.

The station also reports that Human Services buses that once took homeless people to the library will now go to a church that's volunteered space.