During the long public process to design the new Silver Spring Library, residents and planners have agreed on one thing: The building should be distinctive, with a downtown presence that draws passersby to the library.

With the exterior designs for the library released last week, it appears architects took the demands rather literally, with the proposed outer design resembling an actual open book.

"One of the things we've heard from people is ‘How is it going to look like a library?'" said Rita Gale, a public-service administrator for Montgomery County Public Libraries. "That has to do with more than just looking like an open book, ... the community wants it to look like something people can embrace, not, ‘There's that public building over there.'"

The library, which will cost roughly $60 million, will be at the corner of Wayne Avenue and Fenton Street. It will house an art center and a coffee shop on the first two floors, a 65,000-square-foot library on the next three floors, county offices on the sixth floor and community meeting rooms and terraces on the roof.

The designs were unveiled Oct. 24 at the Silver Spring Library after public meetings to discuss the exterior designs were held in the summer with the library's Arlington, Va.-based architect, Lukmire Partnership Inc.

At those meetings, two designs were presented to the community, both with mostly glass facades similar to the design unveiled in October. Those designs differed on the types of entranceways to the library and how the building would integrate with the Purple Line stop located on site.

A main entrance will be on Wayne Avenue with elevators going up to the third-floor library and a secondary entrance will be located on Fenton with escalators and stairs.

East Silver Spring resident Karen Roper, who has been vocal throughout the library-design process, said she "didn't mind" the exterior designs but worried whether East Silver Spring and Fenton Village were being properly served by the library building.

"I'm very disappointed that it isn't facing into Fenton Village," Roper said. "This was supposed to be the signature thing into Fenton Village, and it's facing downtown."

County officials decided late last year to have the library face Wayne, as opposed to Bonifant Street, which the community favored. Instead, a future residential component of the site will front on Bonifant.

In July, the Montgomery County Council voted against revising a 1999 Silver Spring Urban Renewal Plan to permit a $750,000 pedestrian bridge that would connect the library to the Wayne Avenue garage. Residents were mostly split on the bridge, which was proposed by County Executive Isiah Leggett. Leggett (D) was on hand for the exterior design unveiling Oct. 24 and pledged to push the council to go against their vote and include a pedestrian bridge in the final design.

"We think it's absolutely necessary to ensure proper access to the building," said Patrick K. Lacefield, a county spokesman. Lacefield said Leggett has been lobbying the council to include an appropriation to the county's Capital Improvements Program for the pedestrian bridge.

The final meeting to discuss the exterior design on the Silver Spring Library will be held 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the current Silver Spring Library, 8901 Colesville Road in Silver Spring.