Port Arthur’s public library, battered and flooded by Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey in August 2017, is pushing ahead with improvements, pressing to reopen by Mardi Gras 2019.

Library Director Steven Williams said Wednesday internal repairs and improvements are nearing completion — the building sustained more than $6.2 million in damages — and some 45,000 books have been returned to the shelves.

Carpet is installed, painting almost completed and furniture has been ordered.

Among the bright spots: Williams said much of the historic Port Arthur collection is recovered and reshelved.

“We didn’t lose any Port Arthur history boxes,” he said. “And we have found more of the Port Arthur collection that we thought had been lost.”

The library will accept more than 10,500 books Thursday, a gift from the people in and around Grand Rapids, Michigan, who offered to supplement the Port Arthur library’s collection after the storm.

Williams said that volunteer effort garnered more than 60,000 books; of that the Port Arthur library will accept 3,000 children’s books, 3,000 youth adult books, 3,000 works of fiction and 1,500 non-fiction books.

Other books collected in that drive will replenish library shelves elsewhere in Texas and in North Carolina, both at libraries that were damaged by hurricanes.

Williams said the Texas Municipal League insured the Port Arthur library and characterized them as “good to work with” and “defenders of the library.” He said more books would be added as insurance money becomes available, and the collection will grow to about 100,000 pieces — that includes digital materials — over the next few years.

Williams, who was assistant director when the storm hit, became director in autumn 2017 with the retirement of former director Jose Martinez. He and his staff of about a dozen have been operating out of a trailer located behind the library while repairs have been continuing.

Williams hired his own replacement as assistant director about five weeks ago: Jenniffer Hudson Connors, who formerly served as Stark Foundation library and archive manager in Orange. She is originally from Englewood, Colorado.