A brightly colored banner proclaiming "Future Home of Millvale Library" stretches across the front of a vacant building at 209-213 Grant Ave., formerly the site of an electronics repair company.

The building's purchase is the latest step toward a permanent library home for the small river town.

Borough residents Brian Wolovich and Tricia George are spearheading the project which has already developed a free summer program for youth through age 18 in a temporary library at the Millvale Community Center.

About the Grant Avenue site: "We were lucky to find some local building owners willing to work with us, and the prices were good," Mr. Wolovich said.

A search for the right location, size and price resulted in an agreement in June to buy the Grant Avenue property for $59,000 from owners J. Rudy & Associates, The owners accepted a down payment of $10,000, monthly payments of $250 for a year and the balance of $46,000 due in June 2009.

Besides the traditional grants, fundraisers and individual donors, organizers have come up with creative ways to raise money.

"We are offering naming rights for the library for $50,000. We are also offering naming rights for the children's and adult library rooms for $25,000 each," Mr. Wolovich said.

Pending grants include a $10,000 Sprout Fund Seed Award to help pay for architectural work, a Neighborhood Investment Association award, and others for the building purchase, business plan and renovations.

The committee is working with the architectural firm Pfaffmann & Associates, which has worked on other libraries and will provide some pro bono work.

"It needs massive refurbishments," Mr. Wolovich said of the Grant Street structure. "We hope to have some green design features, including geothermal heating. A lot depends on the funding."

Volunteers have begun the necessary prep work. Recently, Abigail Middleton, volunteer coordinator for North Hills Community Outreach, helped oversee six volunteers from MARC USA, who were doing light demolition work, replacing broken windows in the basement with plywood and installing insulation. NHCO suggested the project to Pittsburgh Care's Day of Caring, which recruited the helpers. A team of 26 teens and adults on a mission trip from a church in Florida already had gutted the building and torn down walls.

The summer program followed a survey of townspeople which showed support for a library. New Sun Rising, a grass-roots nonprofit organization founded by Mr. Wolovich and his brother, Scott, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, is sponsoring the project. The experimental first phase was enabled by a $9,000 Grable Foundation award and donated equipment from Shaler Area School District, which was renovating the high school, as well as book and other contributions.

"The summer program exceeded our goals and we had requests from parents and the kids to keep going," Mr. Wolovich said.

Through the efforts of North Hills Community Outreach, a $5,000 Heinz Grant Award was obtained through its Bridge to Tomorrow program. It will allow the children's library program to continue through fall and winter with volunteer staffing and a librarian for Saturdays in its current location on the second floor of the community center on Lincoln Avenue. After closing for a couple of weeks, the library re-opened the last week in September. Hours are Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The borough is doing its part by allowing the children's library to continue at the community center for a low rent, Mr. Wolovich said.

Late in August, Erik Zimmerman, 12, who lives nearby, said he visited the temporary library almost every day it was open.

"I read a lot and really like it here," he said. "With the [price of gasoline] being so high, we couldn't go anywhere."

Mr. Wolovich is optimistic about improvements in services offered to Millvale residents.

"Millvale is getting better and better since the last floods. There is good optimism around town," he said.

The committee will meet tonight at 7 at the future home of the library, 213 Grant Ave. For more information, call Brian Wolovich at 412-977-7672.