TUG-OF-WAR ON MAIN STREET, A new chapter, but an old story, Everyone agrees Sag Harbor's library has outgrown its home, but separate plans seek to expand or build new: [NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition]

Any community on the East End would be proud to have the John Jermain Memorial Library on its Main Street. Built in 1910, it's a little jewel of a building that looks more like a Greek temple than anything else.

From the curving marble interior staircase to the brick dome above its reading room, the Greek Revival-style library reflects the elegance of a long-ago time, when rich patrons created public buildings with their own personal sense of style.

But, the library ran out of shelf space years ago. There is no room to expand - although some argue a private home next door could be purchased and torn down.

Wheelchair access is only to the basement, where lighting is poor, and new fiction books are kept on shelves that are only partly lit by floor lamps. And, there is no way to hide the basement drainage pipes, exposed in the middle of an area marked "Staff Only."

Referendum is set

Now, after years of debate and discussion, the library will hold a referendum on Dec. 14 on a plan to spend $8.5 million to build a new public library at Mashashimuet Park, and to use the existing building as a community center for special library programs.

Anyone 18 or older living in the John Jermain library district - the same boundary as the Sag Harbor school...