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Those waiting anxiously for the James Prendergast Library to reopen will have to wait until January.

Catherine Way, the library's director, said Wednesday morning that while the asbestos removal project was complete, other portions of the renovation were proceeding more slowly and the library will not be able to reopen by Christmas as originally planned.

''We just underestimated the amount of work,'' she said. ''With a project of this magnitude, you sometimes don't know about all of the work that has to be done until you're actually involved. For example, before the new carpet could be laid, we found out that the floor had to be leveled in some places, which involved a lot of work and pushed us back a little bit.''

Before the project began, the library allowed patrons to check books out for an extended period. Now that the library is going to be closed even longer, Mrs. Way said patrons need not worry that they will be fined for keeping the books a little longer.

''We're not going to be hard-nosed about this at all,'' she said. ''We do recognize that this is an inconvenience. Folks can keep their books for the whole time that we're closed. They can still return them through the book drop located at the front door.''

The asbestos removal project has closed the library since Aug. 31. It began as a simple light replacement project.

Library officials learned ballasts would no longer be manufactured for the light fixtures in the main reading room and the children's room, forcing them to choose between retrofitting the existing fixtures or installing new ones.

Both choices involved the removal of asbestos located in the ceiling tiles in the front portion of the library. While that work was being done, library officials reasoned, the asbestos located in tiles beneath the carpet should also be removed.

Blasdell-based Stohl Environmental performed the asbestos removal.

The $800,000 project is - in addition to asbestos removal, electrical improvements and new carpeting - giving the library a much-needed facelift. The facility hasn't been renovated since 1978.

Now, all of the new lights have been installed and crews are busily installing new carpet tiles throughout the library. Painting is ongoing and other workers are vacuuming books to remove accumulated dust.

A NEW LIBRARY

As part of the renovation, the library's children's room will be rearranged. New, more modern, custom-made desks will be installed at the main circulation area at the front of the library, in the children's room and in the reference area.

''The previous desk dated to 1962 and didn't evolve as libraries did,'' Mrs. Way said. ''We've got computers now and the old desk didn't accommodate them well.''

The front corner of the library, which previously was home to the large-print books, will now be home to 15 public-access computers, microfilm machines, a copy machine and a printer. The large-print books will be moved only a few feet away to shelves that formerly housed the library's magazine collection. Magazines will be relocated toward the center of the library on the left-hand side.

New books were previously located along a wall near the circulation desk. After the renovation, they will be located on new, free-standing shelving units in the front of the library's main room. Small, rotating shelves filled with paperback books will be located near the new books.

Audio books and CDs will be located along the wall where new books were.

The reference computers, previously located along one wall near the center of the library, will be relocated to a new table behind the new reference desk at the center of the library.

The wall along which the reference computers were formerly located has been knocked out and will be replaced with new shelving to help the library accommodate its film collection, which numbers around 10,000 DVDs and VHS tapes. Documentaries and some feature films will be on shelves near the library's main room, while the remainder of the films will be housed in the renovated video room.

Upstairs where biographies were once housed, a new area has been created.

''We've moved the biographies back a few shelves and have cleared out a reading corner for teens,'' Mrs. Way said. ''There will be a cafe-style table and tall stools, a loveseat and some chairs up here, along with all of the teen books and other materials.''

Three tables for four people and several tables for two people, all of which will have electrical outlets for laptop computers, will be located behind the reference desk, and some of the shelving units that formerly divided the main room in half will be removed. The library also has a new wireless Internet router, which allows patrons to connect to the Internet while at the library.

Two love seats and four easy chairs will be located at the front of the library's main room, and more chairs will be located behind the reference desk, Mrs. Way said.

The children's area, on the ground floor, will see few changes. Housed to the left of the reference desk, the children's area will include a new main desk, chairs and an area for children to play with puzzles.

All of the new furniture being used in the library was custom-made by Cole Craft Inc., a Falconer furnishings company that made the furniture used in the Randolph library.

''This is really going to optimize the use of our space,'' she said. ''This space was designed in 1962 and library use has evolved dramatically over the years. We're basically getting a new library here - we're going to make better use of our space which will allow us to accommodate a growing collection. On the whole, I am pleased with the progress we've made. I thank the community for its continued patience.''