Given Memorial Library and Tufts Archives representatives are seeking $1 million from the village of Pinehurst to help fund a proposed expansion.

Executive Director Audrey Moriarty made the request Tuesday during a council work session. She also asked the council to consider increasing its annual donation from $20,000 to $80,000.

“Your support is pivotal,” she told the council.

No council member spoke against either request.

“Can you imagine this village without the Given Memorial Library and Tufts Archives?” council member Doug Lapins asked. “I can’t. I think it is going to be relevant. We have to seriously think about this.”

The council took no action on either request but will likely consider it further as soon as the village staff begins preparing a budget for the coming fiscal year.

Library board member Pat Corso told the council that the monetary support didn’t have to be a lump-sum pledge and could be made over several years.

The proposed expansion is estimated to cost about $4.6 million. The funds are expected to come from a combination of groups, and the library is currently involved in an “aggressive” fundraising project. The work is expected to begin after the U.S. Opens in 2014.

While the Given Memorial Library is a public library, it is a 501(c)3 nonprofit and receives no public funds, the only library of its kind in North Carolina. It was opened in 1964 with a monetary gift from Sara Given Larson. In 1973, with a gift and endowment from the Tufts family, the Tufts Archives was constructed.

Currently the building has 6,400 square feet of space on its main floor and an additional 2,100 square feet in its lower level. The proposed expansion will allow for 16,000 square feet on the main level and 8,000 square feet on the lower level.

The plan is to keep the front of the building as is, and add a children’s wing on one side and an expanded space for the archives on the other. The building will also have a cultural center that includes a 240-person multi-function space with a small kitchen.

Architect Alan Stagaard, who helped create the plan, told the council that the design will allow the building to expand without encroaching on the Village Green and without overreaching its current property lines.

“Our hope is that when this is all finished, people will say that this is the way it has always been,” Stagaard said.

Stagaard told the council that the west side of the building will open to the green and will include a new main entrance.

He also said the design will allow for an expansion without the additional need for power, or additional staff.

The expansion will allow for a museum space to properly display the archives and double the number of books in the library from 15,000 to 30,000.

Moriarty told the council that the library is increasingly used in new ways. She said individuals use the facility for a home office, home schoolers use it as a classroom, guests use the computers and read periodicals. And there are plenty of classes for all ages, but for children especially.

“Patrons are looking for more to do than just checking out books,” she said.

Library representatives told the council that in a recent survey of residents, approximately 85 percent of responders favored expansion.

Several residents attending the meeting also supported the proposed enhancements.

“For the past 45 years or so, through the generosity of its citizens the village has had a library on the cheap,” said resident Jack Farrell. “It may be time for the village to come to the table, and recognize that fact, and in fact participate from a financial point of view.”

Resident John Root, who also works at the archives, said financial support from the village will help to generate larger donations from others outside the community.

“I think there are people in the background right now saying it’s a great idea, but what the community is doing to support it,” he said.

Added Mayor Nancy Roy Fiorillo: “If we don’t value our library, how can we expect other people to?”

Contact Tom Embrey at (910) 693-2484 or tembrey@the-pilot.com.