ORONO – The Orono Public Library Foundation purchased a site for the future library’s home last fall, and is now moving forward to make its dream of a new public library a reality.

Gary Friedmann & Associates, a statewide nonprofit fund-raising firm, has been hired to conduct an up-to-date feasibility study.

“The study will tell us what chance we have of raising the money in the community,” foundation member Mike Round said on Tuesday. The foundation anticipates it will need to raise more than $3 million to complete the project. That will come from a variety of sources that will include both resident donations and grant funding – “everywhere we can find it,” Round said.

After years of discussions on where the new library should be located, two properties – 37 and 39 Pine St. – were purchased by the foundation in August 2003 to house the future library.

“We’ve been looking at this thing for almost 10 years, but we never had the property,” Round said. “Now we have the property [and] the train has left the station.”

The existing library space is shared with the small school library, and cramped quarters have severely limited growth of both the public and school libraries.

The Orono Public Library Foundation is a volunteer, nonprofit organization formed in July 2002 to investigate building a public library for the town.

The 13-week feasibility study now under way will poll community members to determine support for the project.

“A study done several years ago showed strong support, and we anticipate that it will be even stronger now,” Round said.

He said that by April, the foundation should begin receiving feedback to determine what the next step will be as far as fund raising and actual construction is concerned.