Louisville Free Public Library director Lee Burchfield said the Parkland branch is expected to be reopened by early 2025.(Jacob Munoz / LPM News )A total of $3 million in funding is making its way into Louisville’s Free Public Library system to bring capital projects closer to completion.In a Friday news conference, Library Foundation leadership announced they had reached a donation goal to receive $1.5 in matching funding from the James Graham Brown Foundation to help support library construction and renovation efforts.“The community's response was immediate and inspiring,” Chandra Gordon, the Library Foundation executive director, said. “Louisville truly loves its libraries, local foundations, corporate partners and individual contributors rallied to meet the match.”Gordon said substantial financial support came from the Crescent Hill Family Foundation, Frances N. Alden Charitable Trust and the Legacy Foundation of Kentuckiana. More than 200 community members also made individual donations.“Altogether, the Library Foundation has partnered with the community to raise over $8 million in private funds for these projects, while also advocating for additional public dollars to support each of our branches,” Gordon said.In Dec. 2022, LFPL announced four projects to update or reopen libraries across the city, collectively called One Library | One Louisville. This included plans to reopen the long-closed Parkland library branch, which had been available to the public since 1986. It also includes the reopening of the Fern Creek library branch which closed in 2019 due to city budget cuts. The Parkland branch will reopen at its previous 28th Street and Virginia Avenue locations, while the Fern Creek branch will reopen at a new location near Fern Creek High School.Both the Main Library branch, which is located on York Street, and the currently closed Portland branch are undergoing renovations.In 2022, LPM reported the combined cost of all four projects would be at least $24 million.At the news conference Friday, LFPL director Lee Burchfield said the combined cost of the project had reached over $44 million.“I don't know that our library system has ever done that much capital work in this short a period of time,” Burchfield said. “I don't recommend it to anyone, but the outcome is going to be fantastic. But it really is a collaboration.”More monetary support has come from the state legislature, Metro Council and American Rescue Plan fund allocations.Two out of four of the ongoing projects are slated to be completed sometime next year. The Fern Creek and Main library projects are expected to be completed in 2026.Behind the scenes of these ongoing projects, issues with the libraries' unionized staff have been playing for multiple years before Metro Council.After a lengthy negotiation process in 2021, union library workers reached an agreement on a new contract with Metro Government.Union workers were back in front of the Metro Government in 2023 seeking support after union leadership voiced concern about workplace safety.