ROCKPORT — The Rockport Library Foundation took another big step toward reaching its $2 million fundraising goal for the new library Feb. 11 when the Library Committee announced it was making a $150,000 donation to the cause. 

In making the announcement at the start of the Select Board meeting, Library Committee Chair Heaven Bartlett, said: “Tonight, we are excited to be presenting a check in the amount $150,000 to the Foundation for the purpose of building our new library. We feel that it is of utmost importance to provide support to this wonderful community legacy.”

“The Library Committee has been in effect in one form or another since the beginnings of the library in 1914, always to support and provide help to the library where it is needed most. Today, the new Rockport Public Library is where it is needed most,” she said, according to a news release from the foundation.

With the donation, the Foundation has raised $1.45 million toward its $2 million goal. Total cost for the new library is budgeted at $3.5 million, which includes a $1.5 million bond that was approved by voters in November.

Also at the Select Board meeting, the Board voted unanimously to move ahead with issuing the bond. Construction is scheduled to begin in early May, with a completion date in the summer of 2020. 

The Rockport Library Foundation is nonprofit, whose sole purpose is to raise private, tax-deductible contributions, which in combination with voter-approved bond funds, will be used to construct a new library building in the village on the site where the library was located since 1949. For more information or to make a donation, go to RockportLibraryFoundation.org.