The $2.5 million grant announced on Dec. 20 by Gov. Mark Schweiker to fund the new Schlow Memorial Library, 100 E. Beaver Ave., was "a welcomed Christmas present," said an unnamed library official.

Many people are working toward the replacement of the current library with a larger building, to open in 2006. The improved library will sit on the same land as the current library and the lot adjacent to it.

"We submit a request based on a budget," library director Betsy Allen said. "We were very pleased [with the announcement]."

The library's facelift will put the 15,000-square-foot building closer to the national average size, 42,000 square feet, for communities the size of State College. The library had an addition once in 1986.

The plan for the new 38,577-square-foot building includes improvements such as an elevator, additional space for collections and computers, a bigger meeting room, and an adult department twice the size of what the library now has, library spokesmen said.

The new features will also include a larger lobby, a bigger gallery for local artists to display their work and 70 parking spaces for library patrons.

Schlow's circulation rose from 500,000 items borrowed in 2001 to 524,000 items borrowed in 2002, Allen said. The increase is in sync with the overall trend, which is not expected to slow down in the near future, she said.

Long-term planning might develop branch libraries or changes in remote book return slot locations, but everyone affiliated with the library is focused on the new building for the time being.

While the building is being constructed, the old State College Borough building, 118 S. Fraser St., will serve as a temporary library.

Minim al construction will be done to make the building suitable as a temporary library, and the Schlow collections will be inaccessible to State College residents for a few weeks as a professional team relocates the library collections, Allen said.

There are more than 2,400 local projects the state General Assembly has made eligible for government funds, said Schweiker's spokesman Michael Lukens.

"The $2.5 million was decided after considering the local support and the cost of the total project," Lukens said.

Of the entire project, estimated to cost $9.2 million, 35 percent of the money pledged comes from independent and private sources. The rest has been contributed by local government support, Allen said.

"We have been fundraising for the past year, we have a consultant, and are running this fundraiser like any capital campaign," Allen said. "Until now [the campaign] has been approaching people with the biggest ability to contribute."

At a community celebration on Feb. 22, the campaign's directors will announce the funds collected thus far.