NORTH COUNTY -- After losing the race before, three North County libraries are once again in the running for a state library construction grant.

The Escondido, Ramona and Fallbrook libraries are among 72 libraries statewide that have applied for funding to build or expand facilities.

The Ramona Library, a branch of the San Diego County system, is hoping to receive $5.65 million to replace its 4,800-square-foot facility with a 20,000-square-foot building on Main Street.

Fallbrook Library, also a county branch library, has applied for $3.97 million to replace its 8,000-square-foot facility with a 17,410-square-foot building on South Mission Road.

The Escondido Public Library, a city facility, has the biggest project of the three, applying for a $20 million grant to double the size of the existing library at 239 Kalmia Street. Escondido has been designing the new 86,000-square-foot library for over three years. The new library would be built at the same site and include 220 parking spaces.

Deputy city librarian Loretta McKinney said the existing facility is so cramped and noisy that it's no longer a place for quiet study.

"In the children's room, on a busy evening, the noise level goes really up," she said. "That, in and of itself, is just a microcosm of the problem."

The state funds come from Proposition 14, generally known as the Library Bond Act, passed by voters in 2000. The act authorized the sale of $350 million in bonds to help fund library construction and renovation projects statewide.

The state grant is distributed in three cycles and competition gets tougher as more applications come in and there is less money to go around. In the first round of allocations two years ago, 18 projects were chosen out of 61 applications to receive $149 million. In the second round, 16 out of 65 projects were chosen to receive $108 million in October. This leaves just $76.9 million, after administrative costs, in the pot with 72 applications requesting $586 million.

In its third and final round, library and city officials hope three times is a charm.

"If we get it, we will consider ourselves extremely lucky," said McKinney, an Escondido librarian. "There's a lot of competition and everyone needs it."

McKinney said the Escondido library needs the funds because it is bursting at the seams. The 1981 building isn't old but is too small for the city's growing population.

"We have, by all definitions, outgrown this building," she said. "We have no space to do our programs."

One of the programs that has been affected the most is the adult literacy program, McKinney said. People have left the program because the noise makes it difficult to learn. Others leave because the lack of space means their illiteracy is made public.

"For adults to have to come out and ask for help to read is a mayor step but to have to do it in front of other people," she said. "People need to have their privacy."

Space is at such a premium, McKinney added, that librarians have put people in storage rooms to study, and moved stored materials into the hallways.

"We have been sited numerous times," McKinney said. "There was one night that we had 400 people here for Dr. Seuss. We weren't expecting it."

The Escondido expansion is estimated to cost $32 million and the city has set aside $12 million to pay what the state grant doesn't cover.

The state library construction staff rates applications under the categories of "outstanding," "very good," or "acceptable," based on population growth, need in the surrounding area, the age and condition of the existing facility and to what degree the library fails to serve residents.

In the past, all three North County libraries have received a "very good" rating on the applications but were still turned down for funding. Most of the libraries funded in the last two cycles, were in the "outstanding" category and only a few exceptions were made for those rated "very good." State staffers say there just isn't enough money to meet the need.

Now the 72 libraries have to wait until sometime this fall for the state Office of Library Construction to rate the projects and a state board to choose the grant recipients.

Escondido Mayor Lori Pfeiler said she has noticed a pattern of libraries receiving a "very good" rating in the past, getting moved up to "outstanding" and receiving funding. She said she is hopeful that will be the case with the Escondido library.

"I think we took our excellent application and made it even better," Pfeiler said. "I think we can show the unique need we have compared to other libraries in the state."

Contact staff writer Adrienne A. Aguirre at (760) 740-3526 or aaguirre@nctimes.com