As a new Southworth Library branch enters the planning stages, library director Lynne Antunes is already considering how the addition may impact how Dartmouth’s public libraries are budgeted.

On Tuesday night, the Board of Library Trustees discussed what’s on the financial horizon in the years ahead.

The new branch, which is still in early planning and has yet to be finalized or approved by voters, would replace the North Dartmouth Library when it’s demolished during a project to connect Tucker and Hathaway Roads in 2019.

Antunes said Town Administrator David Cressman suggested thinking about what kind of staffing the new building would require should the project move forward. She’s considering adding another professional librarian to the staff.

“I want to create a second senior librarian position. That’s who was running a branch in the past – someone at that level,” said Antunes. “Assuming we get the new branch, I’m going to want somebody who’s an all-purpose librarian who can do programming for all ages [and] have excellent computer skills.”

She said the library’s current senior librarian focuses on collection development and maintenance. Her job is to reads reviews, purchase new material and weed out old, unused material. The new senior librarian would focus more on services and programs. The position would require that the applicant hold a master’s degree in library science.

Antunes said she will be presenting requests for funding in front of the Capital Planning Committee soon, requesting $3 million to help fund the new library. If approved by the committee, the proposal would be voted on at Town Meeting over the next three years. Each year, she would request $1 million for the branch.

While the total cost of the library is unknown until plans start to solidify later this year, the project has the potential to be awarded a construction grant from the state that “would pay about half the cost.”

“If we have $3 million set aside already, that could be a good percentage of the money needed,” said Antunes.

Antunes also plans to request $50,000 for improvements to the parking lot. This past summer, the library’s lower level experienced flooding due to heavy rain. She said the Department of Public Works corrected the problem in December, but the parking lot needs to be repaved.

For fiscal year 2017, Antunes is requesting a budget of $1,200,822, which is mostly in line with last year’s budget of $1,186,147.