Cathleen Gray visits the Chapel Hill Public Library at least once a week with her two kids.

But starting in October, Gray and other Orange County residents will have to go to University Mall to check out their books, magazines and videotapes.

The town’s only public library ­— which sees about 375,000 visitors a year — will close on Sept. 23 while it prepares to pack up its 187,000-book collection to move to a temporary location at University Mall in Chapel Hill, said Mark Bayles, assistant director of the library.

The library will be relocated to a storefront in the mall while its permanent location at Library Drive is renovated to include expanded meeting space, a computer lab, new study areas and nearly twice the amount of book space.

The renovation is expected to be completed by December 2012, Bayles said.

The University Mall renovation is projected to cost around $500,000, while the expansion at Library Drive will cost about $16.2 million, Bayles said.

The University Mall location will reopen in October after a two week closing period with a collection reduced by 30,000 books and limited public space.

The temporary location will be 11,000 square feet, a 7,000 square feet reduction from the library’s original space.

“It’s going to be very tight,” Bayles said. “There will be less seating available to the public.”

The books will be moved to a storage unit, which can be accessed by requesting them at the University Mall location, he said.

During the moving period, the library will stop accepting book donations and services will only be accessible online.

But Bayles said the temporary location will have improved general-access computers and more self-checkout stations to improve checkout times, a problem at the Library Drive location.

The University Mall location is also on major Chapel Hill Transit bus lines, making it more accessible to the public, he said.

Chapel Hill Town Council member Gene Pease said while he does think there will be a disruption in services during the library’s moving period, he thinks the renovation will ultimately be successful.

“The renovation will satisfy the town’s need for the next to 10 to 15 years,” he said.

Gray said the temporary move will not affect her weekly visits to the library and she is excited for the expansion.

“Assuming it goes as scheduled, it shouldn’t be a big inconvenience,” she said. “It looks like it’s going to be beautiful.”

Plans for the Library Drive expansion were approved earlier this year after months of controversy among local officials.

Renovations to the original library were approved by voters in 2003, but after a proposal by Madison Marquette — the real-estate company that owns University Mall — last year, town officials considered moving the library to the mall permanently.

Many Town Council members considered supporting the plan because of an estimated $4 million cost savings.

But after further cost-analysis, the town found that savings would actually be less, and the proposal was rejected at a Feb. 14 meeting.

As a result, the town has moved forward with expansion plans.

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