By the end of October, city commissioners should hear details for a smaller, less expensive plan for a new downtown Lawrence library.

Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved an $18,900 contract with the Lawrence-based architecture firm of Gould Evans Associates to study ways to enlarge the current library at Seventh and Vermont streets or build a new library at a different downtown site.

“All the discussions we have had to date indicate that we need to scale back the size and cost of the project, and that’s what we intend to do,” said Bruce Flanders, director of the Lawrence Public Library.

A previous study had recommended that the library – which is currently about 52,000 square feet – would need to grow to 140,000 square feet if expanded on site, or to about 127,000 square feet if a new building were constructed. Now, architects with Gould Evans and library leaders will discuss options that would involve smaller square-footage amounts, although both an expansion and building at a new site will be considered.

Flanders said the four private developers who have expressed an interest in partnering with the city on building a new library will be given a chance to change their proposals to meet the new size guidelines.

Mayor Mike Amyx said the new report was needed to give commissioners a higher comfort level with the project, which ultimately would have to be approved by voters.

“I just want to understand 100 percent what the needs of the library are, and I want a cost number that we can live with,” Amyx said.

Flanders said the report also would detail the consequences of going with a project that is smaller than what previous library consultants suggested. He said the most likely consequence would be that the city would have to look at adding satellite library facilities around 2015, about a decade earlier than had been anticipated.