The Manoa Public Library will close July 2 to make way for a new, $10.3 million library building.

The long-awaited project, set to wrap up in about two years, will give Manoa a bigger, more environmentally friendly library and bring to fruition nearly 30 years of expansion plans for the facility.

The new library will be twice the size of the existing facility, and will have space for about 100,000 "materials" such as books, CDs, DVDs, audiobooks and other items. It will also be built to be energy efficient, and will feature a meeting room and a children's room. Construction is set to begin in late fall.

While the new library is being built, Manoa residents will get an interim facility, in the form of two portable buildings on the grounds of Noelani Elementary School. The portables, set to open Aug. 3, will hold about 37,000 materials. The interim library will be open during regular library hours, and take reserve requests.

The portables, one of which will be used as storage and staff offices, can hold about 40 people.

Once construction on the new library is finished, the portables will be used by Noelani Elementary.

The Manoa library, built in 1966, is one of the state's busiest branch libraries. It is also one of its smallest.

As far back as 1980, Manoa residents have been pushing to expand the library. The campaign finally secured funding in 2005, kicking off design work and logistical planning. "Now that we have a closure date for sure ... it's really becoming solid to me and to the patrons," said Manoa branch manager Christel Collins.

Collins said that though Manoa residents are happy to see the new library becoming a reality, they also have fond memories of the old one. "It's a wonderful library," Collins said of the old facility. She said a project is under way to ask patrons to draw their memories on acid-free paper. The art will be displayed in the new library.

Construction of the new library — and demolition of the old one — is set to start in mid-fall.

The new library will be about 13,000 square feet, compared with the old 6,500-square-foot building.

There will be 42 parking spaces. The old building has 19.

Before the Manoa library closes in July, librarians will be weeding out its collection and preparing other materials for storage. Collins said the new library will likely open with about 50,000 items, and more will be purchased as more funding is made available. The library will also store its furniture, given the shaky financial picture, for staff to use if new furniture can't be purchased.

The Manoa library is the only public library under construction on O'ahu.

The state is also building a new, $7.8 million library in North Kohala, which should be complete in 2010.

The last library to be built on O'ahu was the Kapolei Public Library, which opened in 2004.