Canonsburg Public Library director Lyn Crouse keeps telling her co-workers that come this time next year, they could be in the plush new facility just a few blocks away.

"We won't have to wear elbow pads to keep from bumping into each other," she said.

Construction on a new two-story library complex on Murdock Street began in March and is expected to be completed in December. Campaign director Ila Stabile said a formal open house could be held as soon as next spring.

Ms. Crouse said the opening couldn't come soon enough. The current three-story, 3,000-square-foot facility, which adjoins the Canonsburg municipal building on East Pike Street, is jammed to capacity, she said.

As it is, a popular children's reading program is held off site at the North Strabane Intermediate School.

"We just don't have enough space to put the kids," she said.

Mrs. Stabile said space won't be an issue once the new facility, the Frank Sarris Public Library, is open for business. The $5.5 million building will encompass 30,000 square feet of space, with a first floor that includes a state-of-the-art computer lab, small study rooms appropriate for tutoring, a public meeting room, three large offices and a kitchen. In addition to the adult, young adult and children's sections, the facility will also include space for historical and genealogical research.

Both Mrs. Stabile and Manuel Pihakis, vice president of the Greater Canonsburg Library Association, acknowledged the vision for the library would never have become a reality without the support of Mr. Sarris, who died in March.

Mr. Pihakis said the library project languished in its early planning stages until his lifelong friend offered a $1.5 million donation to get it started. And while that upfront money earned Mr. Sarris the naming rights for the new building, his friend said that was never his motivation.

Mr. Sarris also donated another $500,000 to the project after the library's formal groundbreaking in January.

Other than that $2 million donation, Mrs. Stabile said she was able to secure $200,000 from foundations, $50,000 from North Strabane and $1 million through the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program. That state grant program provides funding for the acquisition and construction of regional economic, cultural, civic and historical importance.

She said the board also secured a $250,000 grant through the county's local share of casino revenue, as well as a $1.5 million line of credit to round out the smaller individual pledges.

But Mrs. Stabile was adamant: Just because the board was extended the line of credit doesn't mean that she wants to use it.

"We would like to open debt free," she said. "We are in the fifth and final year of our capital campaign, but it never really ends."

To do that, the board needs to raise another $1 million. That money, she said, is particularly important because it will go toward furnishing the second story, which might otherwise remain unfinished while the first floor opens.

"We need more than just bricks and mortar," Mrs. Stabile said. "We are going to have lots of rooms that need to be filled with lots of furniture."

She said she is going back to the foundations while continuing to lobby for private, individual donations.

Raising money is difficult enough, and Mrs. Stabile said the economic downturn forced many foundations to slash earmarks for new donations over the past two years. She hopes some of those earmarks have been or will be restored in 2011.

While pledges from individuals came in slowly at first, now that the steel support beams are erected and the concrete floors poured for the new facility, they are rolling in more quickly, Mrs. Stabile said.

But that support almost dried up at one point during the campaign.

"There was a time three years ago that the tide turned against the library," borough manager Terry Hazlett said. "People stopped believing the library would get done."

After all, Mr. Pihakis admits - there were plenty of snags.

There were businesses on the Murdock Street property that needed to be relocated before acquisition. Then there were holdups because of parking and environmental issues.

"I think this was a learning experience for all of us," Mr. Pihakis said.

Mr. Hazlett agreed, adding that the community and council are anxious for the new facility to open.

He said the library will complement other revitalization efforts in the borough.

With the recent multimillion dollar streetscape program and extensive renovations to Canonsburg's Town Park, he said this library will be "the crown jewel of our mini-renaissance."

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