SALISBURY - The possibility of enlarging jam-packed Salisbury Library looms larger thanks to a $40,000 grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.

Town Manager Neil Harrington told selectmen last night that the state planning and design grant will hopefully be matched with $20,000 in town money by this fall's Town Meeting. The money will pay for a feasibility study on expansion alternatives, site investigation, as well as preliminary architectural plans and schematic drawings for a future library expansion project.

Town Planner Lisa Pearson said a number of issues will be researched during the study, including finding out if the library's present location can accommodate the expansion.

"The ideal would be to expand it at its site in Salisbury Square," Pearson said yesterday. "I think it's always good to have a town hall, public library and a bank in the same spot so people can park and walk to everything."

State Rep. Michael Costello, D-Newburyport, was especially happy about the grant. Costello sees the money as an opportunity for Salisbury to make the library a hub for the community, he said yesterday.

"In Newburyport, you will oftentimes see people lined up outside the library on a Saturday morning," Costello said. "I think this facility, though only in the planning stages, has the ability to be that type of attraction."

Library Director Terry Kyrios was not available for comment yesterday, but Harrington thanked her and the Trustees of the Library for their hard work in putting together a successful grant application "and for their tireless advocacy of our library."

The picture is a lot rosier for Salisbury's library today than it was in 2002, when it almost shut its doors due to a town budget crisis. The library's former director, Gail Lyon, was one step away from handing over the library keys to Department of Public Works Director Don Levesque in preparation for locking it up tight.

A plea from Lyon to the library's trustees resulted in the release of $43,000 in trustee funds, which paid salaries and basic needs for six months. Lyon retired shortly after, but with a reduction in hours, the library doors stayed open.

Kyrios has said her plan when she took over was just to keep the doors open and the lights on. As the financial situation in Salisbury improved, so did the library.

In December 2005, Town Meeting increased the library's budget, allowing for a full-time children's librarian. Although providing services for children is a large responsibility for any library, Kyrios has said it is especially important in Salisbury, which has a significant population of low- to moderate-income families.

In planning for the library's future, officials went to residents for help, who responded by completing library surveys, helping officials know in which direction to take the library. Bit by bit, new services have been added - such as wireless Internet access. More hours were added, too. Just this March, the library added new hours on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

But as the library grew, finding space for more books, more technology and more people became one of its major problems. One look at the well-used Children's Room finds books just about everywhere, with no room for growth.

Since its birth in 1885, the Salisbury library has moved around a bit. Starting as one shelf at the post office with the postmaster serving as the librarian, it moved to what is now Town Hall, then to Cushing School, then to an office on Park Street and finally to its own building on the green in Salisbury Square.

First funded in 1989, the Massachusetts Public Library Construction Program is administrated by the state Library Commissioners, according to a press release from the organization. Since 1989, 66 planning and design grants have been awarded across the commonwealth. This 2007 round of funding totaled $760,000, awarding $40,000 grants to 18 other communities.

Dr. Em Claire Knowles, commission chairwoman, said, "Each project represents a dramatic step in helping these towns move forward toward planning and designing a library building that will be able to provide its community with modern up-to-date library services."