The East Hills branch of the St. Joseph Public Library has unveiled $40,000 in upgrades made to its theater system.

“It’s fully digital, it’s right at the edge of the state of the art,” said Steven Olson, East Hills Branch Manager.

From the outside the theater doesn’t look much different, but from the inside Olson said it’s a complete make-over.

“The screen is larger,” said Olson. “Our projector is capable of showing actual blu-ray quality.”

A touchscreen was added to access the equipment, a new projector was installed, and different types of hook-ups for electronic devices to plug into the system. 

“This is a full commercial system,” said Olson. “You can show yourself up on the screen, you can show 3D objects.”

He said the theater room gets used around 80 times each month for group functions and presentations. He said the room is available to groups  that don’t charge for attendance and allow their event to be open to the public.

“A lot of these groups don’t have any money or they’re not tax supported,” said Olson. “This is really an opportunity for them to come in and use the equipment for whatever they want, for whatever their program is.”

The funds for the upgrade were raised by the Friends of the Library Foundation.

“We don’t make any money, it’s something we do for the public,” said Olson.