BERNE — The Berne Library is moving.

Since its founding in 1962, the library has had to squeeze into tight spaces in Berne: first the Grange Hall, then a tiny building perched precariously at the edge of the Fox Creek, and, most recently, in the crowded Berne Town Hall.

At a meeting last Wednesday, the library board and the town board agreed to a tentative plan to move the library to a yet-to-be-built home at the Berne Town Park.
"We think it’s great," said library board President Jim O’Shea of the plan. "It’s been a long time coming."

For two years, the space-strapped library has been looking for property. Its 800 square feet in the town hall aren’t nearly enough to house the ever-increasing collection and the patrons’ desire for more computers and more study space, library supporters say.

The search, however, was unsuccessful, O’Shea said.
"We actually found absolutely nothing," he said.

The library board’s criteria for property was strict. It had to be along one of the town’s cable lines, for high-speed Internet access, and it had to be on a main road in a population center.
"It’s like a convenience store," O’Shea said. "People will go to a library because it’s convenient."

The town park fulfills the criteria. It’s located on Route 443, at the west end of the hamlet of Berne.

The biggest advantage of the park, said Berne Supervisor Kevin Crosier, is that the town already owns the property. Since the Berne Library, as a free library, has no taxing power, it relies heavily on the town to meet its budget.

Also, Crosier said, the town has already begun to dig a well at the park for new bathrooms.
"A lot of the infrastructure is already there," he said.

The town hall has had a space crunch as bad as the library that shares its building. The town needs more room to conduct its business, especially the court, Crosier said. With the library leaving, the town could expand into vacated space. The old hotel building, however, might need some work.
"We’re going to evaluate the feasibility of the rehabilitation of the library space for new use," Crosier said.

The top floor of the town hall is occupied by the Berne History Museum.

The cost, size, and shape of the new library building hasn’t been decided. O’Shea said the library board is going to hold a community forum for input before making that decision.
"We really want to get the townspeople behind this," he said.

The library board has already raised $7,000 for the project, and the town has set aside $50,000 for the library from the sale of the old fire station across the street from the town hall. Originally, the town had intended to use the old station, but decided it would cost too much to bring it up to current building code.

Joel Willsey, a Berne resident who redesigned the town’s transfer station to match the historic buildings in the hamlet, has already started working on some sketches for the new library, Crosier said.
"We’re going to give it the same rural style," Crosier said. "I’m sure it will look like an old historic house."

The town is not concerned the library, and its parking lot, will cut too much space out of the park, Crosier said. The town is looking into securing grant money to expand the park anyway, he said.

Crosier, a Berne native, remembers going to the library at the edge of the creek when he was a child.
"A library is an important part of a community just like a firehouse is," he said. "I think it’s important for the kids to have that."