With construction humming along in downtown, Rehoboth Beach Public Library officials and task force members have begun the process of ironing out the details of a second location on Warrington Road.

The library has been working on a renovation and new-build project for years. In November, the library purchased a 5-acre parcel off Warrington Road, across from the Beebe Healthcare Specialty Surgical Hospital, for its second location to better serve library users who don’t live within city limits. The library announced the formation of the new task force and a need for members in February.

Kay Wheatley, library board president, said about two dozen people expressed interest; the task force held its first meeting in June. The library didn’t want these individuals to show interest and then have them lose it after not hearing anything, she said.

The first meeting was primarily introductory in nature, but members were given homework to visit newly constructed libraries and to take notes about what they liked, said Wheatley. At the next meeting, expected to be this fall, the group will start talking about the types of services they would like to see at the new library, she said.

Before construction can begin, Wheatley said the library needs to raise about $500,000 to hire an architect to begin designing the building and an attorney to begin working through the conditional-use process. She said library officials have submitted a lot of grants applications for both locations.

Wheatley said they’ve submitted paperwork to the state requesting to be included in the state’s Bond Bill for the amount of $15 million. The estimated cost of the new library is about $30 million, she said.

As for the renovation of the downtown location, Wheatley said there’s been a bit of delay because major steel corrosion was found during renovation. Instead of Oct. 1, it’s more likely the first phase will be completed by the middle or end of October, she said.

The building has been under construction since November. It’s a two-phase renovation plan. The first phase includes the main entrance area, circulation desk and second-floor meeting space. The second phase includes improvements to the area that’s being used right now. A lot of the first phase has to do with upgrading the building’s HVAC and electrical system, but there have been meeting rooms added, a change to the shape of the circulation desk and upgrades made to the second-floor meeting space.