WILTON – Getting into the town library can feel suspiciously like trying to enter a fortified Medieval castle, complete with moat. First, you cross a bridge over a rushing stream. Then you scale a steep hill and climb difficult steps, to a heavy door that opens hard and closes harder.

The Wilton Free Public Library is a regal – even beautiful – building. It’s a fun place for kids to use their imaginations. But for folks like Arlene Baker, 84, it’s become nearly impossible to visit.

A lifelong Wilton resident, Baker spent many good hours in the building as a child. “I’ve always liked reading, even when I was just a kid,” she said Wednesday. Now, she reads murder mysteries and romances – six every two weeks.

But she gets them from outreach librarian Lynn Hunter, who picks them out and brings them to her.

“I don’t get around like I used to, of course,” Baker said, in explanation. “It’s hard for me going up the walk, and up the steps. Those steps are very hard to climb. And in the winter, when it’s very icy on that walk, it’s very dangerous for someone like me.”

Baker, and folks like her, are part of the reason library Director David Olson, Western Maine Community Action Director of Program Operations Irv Faunce, and others are trying to raise the money to make the building handicapped accessible.

On Tuesday night, Faunce, Olson and Peter Chamberlain, the president of the library’s board of trustees, asked selectmen if the town would agree to act as a conduit for grant money that, if awarded by the government, will help pay for renovations.

Selectmen voted unanimously to send the question to voters at a special town meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m Tuesday, Dec. 5.

Federal community development block grants can only be given through municipalities and have to be used for specific purposes. “You can apply for up to $100,000,” Faunce said.

The project is expected to cost nearly $400,000, he said. A fundraising campaign has raised nearly $290,000, and the library endowment is about the same size. With that money, plus funds from the government, there is a good chance the idea could become a reality in a matter of months, Faunce said.

“We have to use the funds in the next year.”

If the grant is awarded, workers will grade the hill to make it less steep and create a straight path to a new entrance on the Farmington side of the building. Inside the new lobby, a handicapped-accessible bathroom and an elevator should make visiting the building much easier.

Library assistant Lynn Hunter thinks it’s a great idea. “I currently serve 12-15 people,” she said. The folks she serves aren’t housebound; they leave to go shopping and some even drive. “But that’s much easier than walking over here,” she said. “They’re avid readers. They love to read. Many of them miss coming here; they grew up with this library.”

If the town approves becoming a conduit for the money, which is virtually risk-free, according to Faunce, a final application will be submitted in January, and the town will be notified of the decision in February or March.

“If they had an elevator, that would be a cinch,” Baker exclaimed. She’ll enjoy getting to browse the stacks, once the renovations are done, she said. “I used to enjoy that an awful lot, when I was able to go in.”