BUTLER TWP — Butler County Community College’s John A. Beck Jr. Library will be transformed into the Heaton Family Learning Commons by the fall 2016 semester.

BC3 officials launched the $5.1 million library renovation project Wednesday, throwing old card catalog slips as confetti in celebration of the long-anticipated construction.

The new building will have fewer books, but have more lighting, more electronics and more socially focused.

Not many changes have been done at the library since it opened in 1974. It still has its original orange carpeting reminiscent of a 1970s style.

Additions to the Heaton Family Learning Commons will include more skylights and windows, more than 60 computers spread across two classroom spaces and open areas and several independent study rooms. The main entrance of the building also will move from the back of campus to the center of campus.

Nick Neupauer, BC3 president, said the Heaton Family Learning Commons will be a focal point of the college’s main campus.

“We’re ready to move to 2015 and beyond here,” he said.

Much of the funding for the project is in place thanks to a $2.3 million grant from the state, and a $1 million donation from lifelong Butler resident and entrepreneur Bob Heaton.