Less than 24 hours after a victory for supporters of the Woodstock Library Board of Trustees, Board President Dorothea Marcus reflected on an ugly six-month fight.

"It's been a very intense period of time," Marcus said during an interview at her workplace on Wednesday. "It's dominated my life and the staff's life."

Tuesday's vote on whether to dissolve the library board and give control to another entity such as a nonprofit or the Woodstock Town Board was a decisive "no."

"Two to One. I'm glad to hear it," library regular Fern Malkine-Falvey said. "I think they should have their own governing of the library."

A community group — which included a former member of the library board and a current member of the town board — petitioned to get the referendum on Tuesday's ballot.

They said they took that action because they were upset with the board's plans to replace the Woodstock Library with a bigger, more modern one, instead of renovating it in order to keep its "Woodstock charm" that the group's members said would fit better in the town.

Board members said they got the most they could out of the small, crumbling, energy-inefficient building, and began seeking public input on three designs for a new library, expected to cost about $5 million.

"I think it needs more than patching up," Malkine-Falvey said, "like has been done in the past."

"It was a really fulfilling campaign for me," said former library board trustee John Ludwig, who created the community group that petitioned for the referendum.

Ludwig, reached by phone Wednesday evening, said that despite losing he is proud of the community group's effort, and that he plans to take a break from activism involving library oversight.

Current board members are getting right back to work at a board meeting scheduled for Thursday evening.

Marcus said the board might select a design for the new library from the three they have been considering.

Then, they will have to decide how to fund the project.

Marcus said she hopes the board's supporters can raise up to $2 million on their own, leaving the rest to be raised through a tax increase which would be smaller depending on how much can be raised beforehand.

Such an increase would ultimately have to be approved by voters in a bond election.