By early next year, Cortez should have more than twice the library it does now.

And Joanie Howland, who took over as director last year after the retirement of Maryellen Brubaker, couldn’t be happier.

"I am thrilled," Howland said yesterday, "because the outside is beautiful."

The library’s fund-raising campaign, which has collected about $18,000 so far, will continue through April, she said, with each $100 donation allowing the expansion to be an additional square-foot in size.

"We can still make it larger until we order the foundation," she said. "After that, I think people will still want to donate, and we’ll just put it into furnishings and more books." Howland said there are still grant applications that may come through to provide additional funding as well.

"It’s going to allow us a lot more space for books and seating," she said, "and for computers, because the place will be wired for them as opposed to what we have now —one phone line coming into one spot."

Earlier this week the city council awarded the $1.4 million bid for the expansion project, which will increase the library’s size from about 8,000 square feet to nearly 18,0000, to R. Michael Bell and Associates, the same company that built the Cortez police station three years ago. The city will provide most of the funding along with a $300,000 energy-impact grant.

Bell’s proposal provided the most square footage among the three submitted, explained General Services Director Rick Smith Friday, and allows for future expansion as the need arises.

"We understand that our conceptual design is not final or perfect," Bell wrote in his proposal, "but we think we have gone a long way in improving the existing library, both functionally and aesthetically."

In addition to doubling the interior space, the plan calls for two outdoor courtyards —a 530-square-foot children’s plaza and an adult plaza of 1,880 square feet.

Even the inside of the facility will be more open to the surrounding environment, Bell noted.

"Our design-build team recognizes the concerns of the library staff to open up the present library to light, sunshine and vista," he said. "We have gone to great lengths and expense to make those dreams come true without creating a glass box that won’t work well for library functions."

Smith explained this will be accomplished with a "clerestory" glass structure that will jut skyward from the center of the library and admit light without adding the glare and heat of direct sunlight.

Howland said groundbreaking for the project should occur in May.

"Although we are going to take our time and do it right," she said, "we’re looking at a target [completion] date of the end of January."

The expansion may mean the library will have to be closed at times, Howland said, but those times will be kept relatively short.

Once the new section is completed, she explained, the books in the existing library will all be moved so work can begin there.

"It would be kind of hard for people to find books while we’re moving them," she said, "so we may have to be closed for a few days."