“So coming up with a fresh page will perhaps bring new interest. We are going to be different —intentionally so!

“The governors are now working on a definition of what we might become — trying to imagine a vision of what it takes to become a library for the 21st Century.”

Dinsmore regards the next step as Phase Three in the Library’s life.

Founded downtown in 1885 as Montreal’s first essentially free public library open to all, it was housed on University St. and what was then Dorchester Blvd.

In 1959 it moved to the NDG location as a community library, a facility that not only loaned books but provided special activities for the local population. These extra services have been a highlight of its role.

For many users, Dinsmore agrees, Fraser-Hickson provided many of the facilities of a community centre.

“In the third phase, it will have to adapt to the contemporary environment,” he added. “We have to consider how a library should take advantage as time goes by of all the opportunities that technology brings.

“The internet is being searched to discover what is being done elsewhere. We are very interested in hearing from people what a 21st Century institution should contain and provide.”

Dinsmore is joined on the board of governors by volunteers who have striven to maintain the institution based on endowment funds and donations. About 70 other volunteers donate their services to supplement the work of Head Librarian Frances Ackerman and her staff.

The governors have raised over $21 million since the move to NDG nearly half-a-century ago, including $1.5 million in recent years.

But it was insufficient to meet increasing costs, and the financial situation was worsened by the need for repairs and the expense of computerization. The Borough of CDN-NDG arranged $200,000 in annual support, but this was not guaranteed beyond 2008.

Hence the decision to sell the Kensington Ave. building. When this deal is completed, the endowment fund could be doubled.

The library’s future now rests on completion of the building’s sale and a three-way partnership between the English Montreal School Board, the Borough and the Institute.