Curt Chandler/Post-Gazette
	Tony Campbell plays a saxophone solo during a performance by the Jazz Workshop in the auditorium of the restored Homewood Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
		Photos and audio: See pictures from the reopening celebration and listen audio reviews by a long-time patron and by the artistic director of the Jazz Workshop Previous story A discussion of the architectural changes

Library staff, community leaders and hundreds of patrons packed the Homewood branch over the weekend to celebrate the completion of the $3.5 million makeover.

The first branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh to be completely renovated under a system-wide project worth more than $40 million reopened Saturday.

The 100-year-old building had been closed since January as workers removed of a 1970s mezzanine and added an elevator, discreetly tucked inside the entrance but with ground-level access. A stained glass skylight in the foyer was restored and the library's formidable central circulation desk was removed. Bigger and more daunting than those in other branches, it spanned almost the width of the lobby. Its wood was recycled into two new desks for the librarians.

The library system paid for $2.5 million of the project through a bond issue by the Allegheny County Regional Asset District, which collects a 1 percent sales tax add-on. The rest of the money came from the state Department of Community and Economic Development and other agencies.

The Homewood branch is the first of 14 libraries, including the main library in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, to undergo renovations, said library spokeswoman Lane Cigna.