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Raphael Cohen had daughter Talya on his lap, carefully studying "Baby's very first animal book" at the Noyes Library for Young Children in Kensington. Perhaps captivated by other toys, the 16-month-old Talya crawled off in search of different stimulation.

"It's really my favorite place indoors to come with my daughter," Cohen, 26, said recently about the county's only library dedicated to young children, up to age 8.

But Cohen, a Silver Spring resident, will soon have to find a new place for Talya's animal research. As part of his proposed fiscal 2011 budget, County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) has called for closing Noyes temporarily as the county attempts to fill at $779 million budget hole.

The library could be closed for up to two years if Leggett's proposal is approved, according to Michele Sellars, an administrator with Montgomery County Public Libraries. Sellars said in addition to saving the library's $202,000 annual operating budget, the closure would allow the library system to reorganize the space and make it handicapped-accessible. Cost estimates for those improvements are not available.

Leggett's proposed operating budget for the library system is $29.3 million, an $8.5 million cut to its fiscal 2010 budget. Cuts include 71 staff positions, programming and fewer hours at the system's 20 libraries. Libraries in Gaithersburg and Olney are also scheduled to be closed for renovations in the budget.

"Our challenge was, how do we balance the workload on the department and the staffing, and bring all that in for 22 percent less money?" said Eric Carzon, MCPL's business manager.

He said that changing Noyes would allow it to provide unique children's programming.

Friends of the Library Montgomery County, a private nonprofit that advocates and fundraises for MCPL, has raised $85,000 to help improve Noyes for its reopening, said the group's executive director Ari Z. Brooks. She said Friends of the Library doesn't have an official position on temporarily closing the library but said she was personally and professionally saddened by it.

"It's a wonderful, special little place," said Brooks, who noted that she takes her children to Noyes. "It clearly does need some upgrades to it."

One full-time librarian and two part-time librarians could lose their jobs if Leggett's proposed budget is passed.

Opened in 1893, Noyes was built with a donation from Kensington founder Brainard Warner, whose mansion at Warner Circle sits next to the library. The building was named after Crosby Noyes because many of the library's original books were reviewed in Noyes' newspaper The Washington Star, according to the Kensington Historical Society.

The original structure still stands, although it did receive a new coat of paint and some landscaping improvements about three years ago, according to Noyes librarian Susan Modak, who has worked at the library for about two years and in the county library system since 1986 but may lose her job through the closure.

Inside the small space, there are approximately 16,700 books and other literacy resources, with titles ranging from "Chicken Cheeks," "The Delicious Bug" and "Panda Kindergarten" to "Jibberwillies" and "Tiny Hercules." There are sections for "Beyond Picture books," "Potty Training" and "Parent-Teacher." There are audio books on CDs and DVDs based on children's books, as well as "grandparent kits" in suitcases, available to be checked out and taken home. The suitcases are packed with books, tapes, and music videos for those spending a day with their grandchildren.

The library has hosted collections such as antique circus toys and materials from the Kensington Historical Society. The library also hosts story-reading sessions for children in multiple languages as well as parents with triplets and similar groups.

"It's just wonderful to see the interactions that we know are the building blocks" to children becoming literate, educated adults, Modak said.

The library's activities help parents as well as children, and the library can become something like a small community center, according to Modak. The children interact and learn social skills, according to Modak.

"We see a lot of instruction about sharing," Modak said with a laugh.

Kensington resident Gloria Botkiss, who lives on Warner Circle near the library, said she took her two children to Noyes, and one of her sons shelved books there as a teenager. Botkiss likes the convenience of the library, and plans to lobby the Kensington Town Council to set aside money to help keep the library open at the start of fiscal 2011.

"I think it serves a wonderful purpose," said Botkiss, 83.

After receiving e-mails and calls about the issue from Kensington residents and others, Kensington Mayor Peter Fosselman is encouraging residents to send letters to the County Council about the potential temporary closure.

If Noyes closes, Cohen said he might take Talya outdoors more often to the park during the summer, and there are similar play areas that he could pay for in Bethesda and other nearby communities. But he will miss the "warm, nurturing" atmosphere of Noyes.

"I'm here with my daughter all day," Cohen said.

Top five proposed cuts to Montgomery County Public Libraries and anticipated savings

-Reduce materials purchasing to 43 percent of approved fiscal 2010 levels: $2.3 million

-Reduce library hours: $1.9 million

-Reduce staff at Gaithersburg Library for interim facility: $1.4 million

-Reduce materials processing, meaning fewer staff to process and catalogue new materials: $325,000

-Decrease substitute library staffing by 20 percent: $264,000