D.C. Public Library is still in the midst of renovations at its flagship Martin Luther King Jr. Library downtown, and now the organization is already turning its attention to possible new renovations and construction at branches across the city, especially in underserved areas.

The new proposals are part of the library’s new Master Facilities Plan, Next Libris, which is a vision for what the library’s physical presence in the District could look like over the next decade. The plan is a culmination of a review of existing facilities, community engagement efforts, and analysis of future use patterns.

One of the main things on the D.C. Public Library wishlist: replacing four of the smallest branch libraries — Northwest One and Rosedale in Ward 6, Deanwood in Ward 7, and Parklands-Turner, currently located in a leased storefront, in Ward 8 — with newer, bigger buildings that can offer meeting rooms, study space, greater access to technology, and spatial separation between book collections for different age groups. Money in the District budget has already been set aside to replace the Parklands-Turner location with a new building in Congress Heights. The proposed Northwest One replacement building would be constructed in the rapidly-growing Bloomingdale/Eckington/Edgewood area, which has no library at present.

“As DC Public Library looks to expand services across the city more equitably, it bears noting that the smallest libraries serve predominantly low-income communities,” the plan reads. “An intentional commitment to equity demands exploring ways to provide full-service libraries to these communities.”

The plan also recommends closing the Shepherd Park Library and constructing a new building in Brightwood, a neighborhood with little access to library services. It also suggests building a new library in Adams Morgan.

Equitable access to a full range of library services across the city is one reason for proposing new construction projects. D.C.’s rising population is another. Right now, D.C. Public Library says it offers 900,000 square feet of library space — about 1.25 square feet for each District resident. But with the population projected to grow to 800,000 by 2030, and with the more than $200 million dollar renovation of the main Martin Luther King Jr. Library nearing completion, the system will have to look at expanding neighborhood branches to keep pace with population growth.

The plan also documents changing trends in how library users access books, including increases in digital book borrowing, greater reliance on placing electronic holds for physical books, and decreases in in-person browsing. That has “profound” implications for physical space in libraries over the next decade, the plan suggests, because it means libraries could devote more of their footprint for uses other than shelving in the future.

New construction, of course, comes with a price tag. The Master Facilities Plan estimates a $175 to $195 million cost for the whole list of priorities, not including the cost of land or operations. Just the first phase — building new libraries in Brightwood Park, Eckington/Edgewood, and Congress Heights to replace nearby smaller branches — would cost an estimated $60 to $70 million.

None of these proposals are set in stone. The plan is a roadmap to explain why the library system wants to consider additional construction — and to ultimately make the case to the D.C. Council for why the libraries should receive the funding to do so.

With the coronavirus snarling D.C.’s financial picture, that might be a trickier case to make. The plan was mostly drafted before the pandemic, “which we know may have profound long-term impacts on city services,” it acknowledges.

“Future project plans and recommendations will take into account the logistical realities of implementation, including availability of funding and project timing as well as the unknowns of the COVID-19 recovery,” the plan concludes.