BOXFORD — Library trustees will see if they can unite themselves, as well as the town's boards and voters, behind a new East Boxford library.

Trustees decided last night to start working with the town's regulatory boards, including the Historic Districts Commission, to approve a 19,500-square-foot library behind the decaying building now in use. That size is identical to a proposed library rejected for the same site three years ago by Town Meeting voters.

Trustees said they'll have high hurdles to jump if they want to get approval in May.

Trustees are pushing for new building on Elm Street with about $2.8 million in state grant money and $3.4 million from the town.

They're putting aside proposals to build a new center of town behind Town Hall, an idea that divided Town Meeting voters and even the trustees themselves several weeks ago.

Chairwoman Susan Daley said the trustees have to keep trying for a new library.

"I'm for going forward," she said. "That's our job. It doesn't matter if we're turned down."

Carole Davis, who had opposed using the $2.8 million grant because it required construction at the East Village site, said a stumbling economy changed her mind.

The state grant can only be used at that location and must be used by December 2009.

"Everybody is hurting too much," she said. "... We've never had $2.8 million before, and we never will again."

The library trustees soon hope to meet with the Historic Districts Commission, which oversees architectural standards. Last night, people compared the older 19,500-square-foot library design to a Costco, a Motel 6 and a Howard Johnson's. Kate Quackenbush, among others, suggested a new design could begin with a type of New England architecture that uses connected buildings, as seen in a book, "Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn."

The trustees did not formally vote on pushing for the May meeting, but they rejected a proposal to delay until the October 2009 Town Meeting.

Trustees followed Library Director Diane Giarrusso's request to defer a vote on the future of the West Boxford library until the Finance Committee announces budget cuts. Giarrusso said if she faces significant cuts, she'll consolidate staff to the East library.

"I know in all conscience I can't recommend not closing West," she said.