LISBON Library expansion postponed

Money may have to be borrowed to meet a spring 2002 groundbreaking target.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Its stain-glassed windows, vaulted ceilings, varnished woodwork and brick and stone construction mark Lepper Library as a 19th-century structure.
Library officials treasure the library's historic look, which was inspired by English country churches. Yet they also are eager to bring the institution into the 21st century with a $2 million expansion and renovation project.
Difficulty in completing funding and planning arrangements has continually delayed the project since 1999.
In March 2000, director Nancy Simpson said groundbreaking could occur this spring.
Not this year: But with plans still needing finalized and funding about $500,000 short, officials have abandoned starting this year.
They haven't abandoned the project, however. Groundbreaking should occur in spring 2002, Simpson said recently.
"We are proceeding," she said. The project "is coming along in a timely fashion. We feel good about the amount of money we've been able to save."
With the help of about $150,000 in bequests and donations, and by setting aside some of its annual state funding for the past several years, the library has saved about $1.5 million toward the project.
Officials hope to narrow that gap even more by next spring.
Simpson explained that they are concerned, however, about Gov. Bob Taft's proposed new state budget, which calls for freezing state funding to libraries at the current level.
Funding for the Lepper Library now stands at $750,000.
In past years, libraries typically received annual state funding increases. So a freeze could actually be seen as a cut, Simpson said.
Borrowing possible: Should next spring still find the library short of funding for the expansion and renovation project, it's likely officials would borrow money to make up the shortfall so construction can start, Simpson said.
Once ground is broken, fund-raisers will likely be held to help pay for the undertaking.
Raising money after the project starts might be easier because the public actually can see progress being made, Simpson explained.
The project's goal is to modernize the library without compromising its period looks.
Planned is an 8,000-square-foot expansion on the east and north sides of the original structure at 303 E. Lincoln Way.
The added space probably will house books, computers, a children's room, reference area and study facilities.
A two-story home on the library's east side was torn down recently to make room for the addition.
Also planned is razing a nearly 2,000-square-foot addition installed on the library's north side in the 1960s.
The old addition isn't accessible to disabled persons and has a leaky roof.