After a few years of brainstorming and studies, a clearer vision of what a new or expanded Lawrence Public Library might look like is finally taking shape.

Square-footage would need to nearly triple and parking spaces for 400 vehicles would be needed to meet public demands through 2025, consultants told a large crowd during a public meeting Saturday at the Lawrence Visitor Information Center, 402 N. Second St.

The current library at 707 Vt. is woefully lacking in space, book and magazine collections and other services to adequately serve the community and be comparable with other libraries in similar sized cities, some with major universities, consultants said.

“Do we just catch up, or do we plan for the future?” said Jeffrey A. Scherer, a library design architect from Minneapolis and one of the consultants who has been working with library officials, the library board of trustees and its New Directions Task Force.

Consultants said the library needed to nearly double its current square footage from 46,560 to 73,045 just to meet current needs. By 2025, they projected as much as 128,000 square feet would be needed.

Consultants came up with library guidelines for the current location in the 700 block of Vermont that look at options such as building a new structure south of the existing library, which would be torn down, possibly to make way for parking. Also considered was using the ground where the Senior Center and the headquarters for Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical exist in the old City Hall building. But to meet future needs, expansion might still need to go beyond the city-owned block, said Steve Clark, of Gould Evans, the prime consultant.

Other areas of downtown also should be looked at, including the area around the Lawrence Arts Center in the 900 block of New Hampshire, as well as along the Kansas River and the area of Riverfront Plaza, consultants said.

Public-private partnerships could be considered, and developers have shown an interest in such partnerships, Clark said.

Features suggested for the new library would include a coffee shop and used-book store, drive-up window, computer lab, accommodations for disabled library users and state-of-the-art technology. Goals include increasing computer terminals from 47 to 142.

Saturday’s presentation gave a good picture of how far behind the library is in meeting current needs and how far it has to go to meet future needs, library director Bruce Flanders said.

“We feel we made some pretty bold statements for the future of the community and the future of library services,” he said.

Consultants and the library task force have been working for months to gather public input about what is needed and wanted in a new library. A key series of “public visioning” meetings has been held in the past three months, and another one is scheduled for 7 p.m. Dec. 6 in the library auditorium.

Detailed information about Saturday’s presentation will be placed on the library’s Web site, www.lawrence.lib.ks.us/, later this week, Flanders said. The Web site has a link to “It’s Time For A New Direction,” where information about planning for a new library is placed.

No decisions about building or designing a library have been made, and no cost estimates have been presented. Library officials hope the latest information will spur ideas from developers willing to enter into a partnership.

The next step is to develop a set of guiding principles and present a proposal to the Lawrence City Commission, said Craig Penzler, who is on the library board and the task force. Penzler hopes an architect for the project can be hired next year.