POUGHKEEPSIE—The library that has withstood more than a century of service to the Poughkeepsie community will reopen this fall with a unique blend of history and modern amenities.

Eagerly anticipated by library patrons, the newly renovated and expanded Adriance Memorial Library at 93 Market St. in the City of Poughkeepsie is expected to open its doors October 1, Poughkeepsie Public Library District Director Tom Lawrence said last week.

Contractors are still at work on the 38,000-square-foot, four-story addition on the back of the original library, which dates to 1898. The new portion of the building replaces one built in 1923, the last significant expansion of the facility, and is being paid for through a $14.5 million bond approved by voters in November 2006.

The new Adriance will be more spacious, more energy-efficient, handicapped accessible, fire code compliant, comfortable, functional, and designed with an eye toward offering what Lawrence calls a variety of library environments and experiences that will differ as patrons move from floor to floor

The original library building was erected by the five Adriance siblings of Poughkeepsie in the late 1800s in honor of their parents, farm machinery manufacturer John Peter Adriance and his philanthropist wife, Mary Jane Ruthven Platt Adriance, and donated to the city with the understanding that it be used as a public library forever.

The 4,000-square-foot Beaux Arts building consists primarily of two large rooms and one small one, with an entry off Market St. into a marble foyer with elaborate plasterwork.

“It’s a beautiful building,” Lawrence said, noting that it cost $50,000 to build in the 1890s.

Formerly home to the fiction collection and the reference area, the space that comprises the original building will now be devoted to local history and genealogy on the north side and a periodicals reading room on the south side, with the smaller office being used by the local historian and the Friends of the PPLD group. Lawrence said the increased space and more adequate seating and tables in the local history and genealogy rooms will allow for “more convenient access by the public.”

The exterior of the building has been pressure-washed and its interior repaired and restored. The tile floors installed some 50 years ago have been taken up and patrons will now walk on the original 19th century hardwood floors. Wall sconces have been purchased and the fluorescent lighting has been replaced with period-appropriate pendant lights.

“The restoration of the front of the building will be as impressive as the new building,” Lawrence said.

The ground floor of the new addition will be where the children’s room once was, one level lower than original 1898 library structure, and will have its entrance off the Noxon St. parking lot constructed several years ago. The most popular material in both the print and DVD collections will be housed there and Lawrence said the area will have a “bookstore feel” with an “open ceiling concept” and 22 computer stations.

For a more “traditional library flavor,” patrons can visit the main floor, which will connect directly to the original building on the west side and house the reference and non-fiction collections. In the 1923 addition, non-fiction was spread over three rooms on two floors.

Space for children and teens will be the focus of the second floor. There, younger patrons will find a “fun” teen space that’s still being designed, Lawrence said, a quiet study room, a kids’ programming room, and a storytime “nook.”

The top, or third, floor will house the fiction collection and will also be the home of the library’s administrative offices.

The decorative elements in the new addition have all been chosen to match the classic feel of the original building, Lawrence said, but for all of that the building will be the picture of modernity. All the floors will be accessible by elevator and Lawrence said the building is designed with the “built-in capacity to shut down” floors individually or block access to them from the elevator. There will be a number of security cameras in use as well. A geothermal heating and cooling system will regulate the temperature of the building and patrons can bring their laptops with them and make use of the building-wide wireless network in one of the study carrels along the eastern wall.

Even those without portable devices should find enough in-house computing capability. The number of computers in the building will be more than double what existed in the former library and there will be a self-service kiosk where patrons can sign up for computer use.

A variety of seating with “just enough comfort” will be scattered throughout the building. Original plans called for some sort of bookstore-style coffee vending area, but Lawrence said that idea is still under consideration.

The entire building, he said, has been designed with the ability to be flexible so that it can change and grow as the years pass. A month-long period of orientation and acclimation for staff is expected to begin in August, along with the moving and reintegration of the 130,000-item collection, a portion of which has been in storage for nearly two years.

The end of August will also mean departure from the library’s temporary home, the former YWCA building at 18 Bancroft Road in the Town of Poughkeepsie. That facility was renovated for the library by its owner, Bob Baxter, and has been home to staff and a portion of the collection since October 2007. Lawrence said it has “worked very well” in the interim and been popular with patrons in part because of its setting.

“It has a campus feel that we’ll all miss,” Lawrence said, adding that he and his staff “couldn’t ask for nicer temporary quarters,” but nevertheless, space is tight and it’s time to go back downtown.

And patrons apparently agree.

“Every day, it’s ‘when are you moving?’,” he said.

As the new Adriance welcomes the community home, there will undoubtedly be some temporary problems and confusion and Lawrence asked the public’s patience until they’re ironed out.

“When you open any new building there are going to be bumps,” he said.

Though he said that it’s too early to reveal any details, a special event to celebrate the library’s reopening is being planned for October 18, the 111th anniversary of the dedication of the original Adriance Library. It will be a time to celebrate a library that has stood the test of time, a building whose name, Lawrence said, has become synonymous with public libraries in the Hudson Valley.

Lawrence believes that the legacy of the Adriances should be “honored and extended,” which it will be if, as he predicts, the new library will be “another really nice civic space for the community at large.

“It’s going to be a wonderful place for a bunch of people to experience a great public library,” he said. “The public’s going to be quite thrilled with what they see.”