Post Date: Wed, April 12, 2023
Cindy Hohl, director of policy analysis and operational support at the Kansas City Public Library, has been elected president of the 58,000-member American Library Association (ALA) for 2024-25. Hohl will serve as the ALA’s president-elect in the coming year and assume the presidency of the association in July 2024.
Post Date: Fri, June 11, 2021
Welcome back to a new and refreshed Trails West Branch! Here’s what you can expect when you visit. We look forward to welcoming you inside!
Post Date: Tue, February 15, 2022
Nobody talks trash like libraries. That’s too bad, really. Look at the gentle back-and-forth on Twitter between Los Angeles’ and Cincinnati’s public libraries going into last Sunday’s NFL Super Bowl. Go back six and seven years, to the Kansas City Public Library’s exchanges with fellow library systems in San Francisco, Toronto, and New York during major league baseball’s playoffs and World Series.
Post Date: Fri, March 16, 2018
Overdue items. Damaged materials. Late fees and fines. The Library knows that sometimes life gets crazy, and the things you borrow from us get returned late or damaged. But we don’t want your account status to stand in the way of you visiting us or using Library services. So for one week, the Library is giving you a chance at a fresh start by erasing eligible, existing fines and fees during Bring It Back Week, April 2-8, 2018.
Post Date: Wed, October 11, 2017
During a special five-day event in partnership with Brian Frehner, a tenured professor of science, technology, and society at University of Missouri–Kansas City, the Kansas City Public Library offers free classes and drop-in sessions to help you with your smartphone, technology repair, and even prepare you for a job interview.
Post Date: Fri, April 22, 2022
David Izzard recently discovered two record albums he’d checked out in 1961 – they were 22,276 days overdue. In 1961, late fees were 2 cents a day, which would have amounted to $891.04 if late fees hadn’t been capped at the time. Lucky for him and all of Kansas City, the Library went fine-free some years ago. David was gracious enough to return the items and share his story.
Post Date: Wed, December 16, 2020
The past year was a difficult one for families across the Kansas City metropolitan area. For those hardest hit—families impacted by the digital divide, parents who have lost jobs, and kids who have lost connections—to teachers, counselors, and caring communities that keep them safe, healthy, and nourished … the Kansas City Public Library is there. As we look towards a new year, we hope you will consider a gift to the Kansas City Public Library.
Post Date: Tue, March 15, 2022
Every day, AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers put their values into action to make a difference in communities, focusing on where the need for change is the greatest. The Library’s VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) Project currently engages 22 AmeriCorps VISTA members at 15 different agencies across the Kansas City area – the Library among them. Join us in applauding this dedication to service during AmeriCorps Week, celebrated March 13-19.
Post Date: Thu, November 30, 2017
The Kansas City Public Library is featured in the latest C-SPAN Cities Tour, which highlights the history and literary life of a selected city. Producers spent time with the Library in examining the history of the Stockyards District and the 1920s and '30s era in which local political boss Tom Pendergast was at the height of power. The segments aired the weekend of December 2-3, 2017, and videos are available to view online.
Post Date: Wed, September 29, 2021
The Kansas City Public Library has received $853,212 in a first wave of federal Emergency Connectivity funding designed to increase broadband internet access in the community. The Library will use the appropriation to purchase and distribute hundreds of laptop computers and Wi-Fi hotspots.
Post Date: Wed, February 12, 2020
For the fourth consecutive year, the Kansas City Public Library has earned a 5-star designation from Library Journal. Only 85 public libraries nationwide – less than than 1 percent of the total of 9,245 – attained that top-tier standing.
Post Date: Wed, November 24, 2021
As of November 30, 2021, the Library will no longer offer the eBook and digital audiobook resource Axis360. If you currently use the service, here’s what you can expect; we also offer some alternative ways to get the new and notable titles you want to check out.
Post Date: Thu, July 9, 2020
The Kansas City Public Library now offers computer access by appointment at four of its locations. This is part of the continued effort to give patrons access to Library resources after being closed for four months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Patrons can sign up online, over the phone, or at their preferred Library location to use computers at several locations. Learn more about the appointment service.
Post Date: Fri, March 19, 2021
For too long, and in particular since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have witnessed acts of senseless, shameless violence against our nation’s Asian and Asian American community. The Library calls on everyone in our city, state, and country to join us in saying: Enough! And to act in ways large and small to turn back this deadly rise in discrimination and hostility – against Asian Americans, against all who are its victims.
Post Date: Wed, November 24, 2021
In recent weeks, groups in Texas, Virginia, South Carolina, and right here at home in Cass County, Kansas City’s Northland, and Wichita have worked to remove dozens of books from shelves, keeping them out of reach of the nation’s youngest readers. The Library condemns any proposed censorship of reading materials and insists that reading for information, enlightenment, and interest is a fundamental right of all Americans. We encourage all libraries to remain committed to a diverse collection that serves the needs of all readers.
Post Date: Wed, June 3, 2020
Our city and nation are hurting in the wake of the senseless, horrifying death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. The Kansas City Public Library stands in full support of the many across our country — including our staff and their families and others in our community — who have marched in protest and in profound, insistent hope for the future. We decry the longstanding racial inequities and injustice at the root of their unrest. We need more than ever to understand the challenges of a diverse America, allowing us to define and develop effective change when and wherever it is necessary.
Post Date: Sun, March 15, 2020
With Kansas City’s stay-at-home order due to expire May 15, 2020,
the Library is working out the details of a careful, phased-in reopening of its physical locations. All have been closed since late March to mitigate the COVID-19 outbreak.
A timeline for the staggered reopening is still being determined.
Follow updates at
kclibrary.org/coronavirus. You can also find additional information at
kclibrary.org/covid19resources.
Post Date: Mon, July 13, 2020
The Kansas City Public Library’s director of branch operations has received national recognition.
Cindy Hohl, who has overseen the Library system’s branch operations for nearly three years, took office July 1, 2020, as president of the American Indian Library Association (AILA), an affiliate of the American Library Association.
Post Date: Tue, September 20, 2022
The Library is joining with Kansas City Public Schools for an important initiative for youth: KCPS Loves to Read, a reading program featuring material meant to foster belonging, friendship, curiosity, confidence, courage, and hope. Students can participate between now until the end of the school year.
Post Date: Sun, May 16, 2021
The Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City Parks and Recreation, and Kansas City Public Schools present the 2021 Pop In at the Park series. Library staff members will be stationed in parks throughout the city Tuesdays through Fridays beginning in June to provide summer learning opportunities and resources to families, connect people with key Library services, and more.
