DURHAM — State Rep. Judith Spang had tears in her eyes as she joined other residents in breaking ground on the new, free-standing, Durham Public Library on Monday night.

It is a project almost 20 years in the making.

In 1997, Spang, the first chairman of the Friends of the Durham Public Library, and other residents convinced the town to split from the University of New Hampshire and get its own library after a 90-year collaboration.

At the time, a lease was signed for space at the Mill Plaza that the Friends of the Public Library hoped would be a short-term home.

But until the summer of 2013, the plaza remains the home of the town library.

On Monday, about 120 residents gathered on the lawn in front of the former home of the Peterson and DiMambro families at 49 Madbury Road that will be the centerpiece of the new library.

The single-family brick home was built in the 1930s, and is close to both downtown, several residential neighborhoods and the schools.

About 7,500-square-foot space will be added to the home, bringing it to a total of about 10,500 square feet, about two-thirds of which will be usable by people, library director Tom Madden said.

The plans for the new library include a community room that can hold up to 100 people, separate spaces for teens, and children, as well as a café and a room focused on Durham history.

Only about 10,000 volumes will be added to the 30,000 already in the library’s collection.

In March, voters passed a $2.6 million bond for the $4.8 million library project with 74 percent in support.

The difference was raised through a capital campaign prior to the March vote.

The private funding allowed the library trustees to purchase the 2.8-acre property in Sept. 2010.

Construction on the expansion and renovation began this past Tuesday, Durham Administrator Todd Selig said.

On Monday, children played with small plastic shovels in one sand pit, while library trustees, officials and residents took part in the official groundbreaking with adult-sized shovels in another.

Durham Town Council Chairman Jay Gooze said he has lived in town for 35 years, and he has never been as proud of the community.

“People stepped up with the donations, they stepped up with the bond. It is not something you would see in every community,” Gooze said.

Madden said it was “tremendously satisfying” to see ground broken on the new library project.

New Hampshire state librarian Michael York participated in the ceremony, and said there has been a sort of “library renaissance” in New Hampshire in the last decade, and said anyone who thinks libraries are a thing of the past is wrong.

Doug Bencks, chairman of the library trustees, has said library usage in Durham has continued to rise, and he expects that trend to follow through to the new library as well.

gmacalaster@unionleader.com