Representatives from the Friends of the Wareham Free Library told the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday about their hope to gift the Spinney Memorial Library to the town this spring.

The Spinney Memorial Library was purchased by the Friends nearly a decade ago. The group raised more than $650,000 to renovate and expand the building, and the library opened to the public last summer.

Currently, the Friends have raised enough money to cover the operational budget for the Spinney Library for two years and are hoping voters will accept the building as a branch of the town-owened Wareham Free Library at Town Meeting in April.

While sympathetic to the positive impact the Spinney Memorial Library would make as a branch of the Wareham library, Board of Selectmen members were nervous about the town taking on any additional financial responsibilities considering its current budgetary situation.

"[You've got to] convince the taxpayers that come to town meeting that this is a worthwhile venture," said Selectman Steve Holmes, alluding to the challenges that the Friends may face at Town Meeting.

Pointing out that the Wareham Free Library is in need of repairs to the building, Selectman Ellen Begley wondered if the Friends group, which supplements the library's book budget and funds programming, could raise funds for that, since the organization raised funds for building a library.

"Maintaining the building has never been a purpose for the Friends, that's the town's responsibility. We can do other things, but we can't do that," explained Priscilla Porter, chair of the Operational Committee of the Spinney Memorial Library, a subcommittee of the Friends.

Porter supported presenting the gift of Spinney to Town Meeting despite possible challenges.

"We intend to inform the public with as much information as we possibly can so everybody understands what we're trying to do, our costs, and what our plans are, and hopefully the town will agree that having a library serving Onset is a good thing," said Porter.

Located at 259 Onset Ave., the original Spinney Library was built in the late 1800s. It functioned as a library until the 1940s, and was then used as a meeting place for the Wareham Girl Scouts.