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Summer Reading Brings All Ages Together for Learning and Fun

Summer Reading 2023 graphic with text "All Together Now"

Wednesday, May 31, 2023 - 9:07am

The Library invites all Kansas Citians to read, learn, imagine, and explore together in this year’s Summer Reading Program: All Together Now. No matter your tastes — fantastic fiction picks, riveting real-life reads, awesome audiobooks, or gorgeously illustrated graphic novels — you can read ANY five books between June 1 and August 15, 2023, log them online, and earn a reward. Join us in celebrating the power of books to build bonds, create connections, inspire us, enrich us, and empower us.

Thursday, May 4, 2023 - 11:56am

Kansas City has gotten a bit … tidier in the past year.

Proof is in the first eight episodes of the new Peacock series The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, filmed in the city and now available for viewing on the streaming platform. Based on the best-selling book by Swedish artist Margareta Magnusson, it highlights the practice of döstädning – translation: death cleaning, or ridding your home of items that have accumulated during your life so loved ones don’t have to do it when you die.

A death-cleaning team visits and assists eight Kansas City households in the series’ first season.

Tuesday, May 2, 2023 - 2:52pm

Libraries frequently innovate out of necessity to serve patrons as technology changes or during challenging times – pandemics, for example. But necessity isn’t the only mother of library invention.

Sometimes, the “usual” way just isn’t good enough.

For instance, when a patron wants a book that the Library doesn’t have, the usual process of requesting it through interlibrary loan (ILL) can be tedious and take weeks. And for the Library? ILL is expensive. More expensive than buying the book.

In April, the Library won the 2023 Urban Libraries Council Top Innovator Award in the Operations & Management category for revolutionizing how patrons request and receive materials. The system is called Request It: Collaborative Acquisitions and is easily accessible to anyone with a Kansas City Public Library card, giving patrons a voice in shaping the collection.

May 2023 Central Youth Services Zine

Tuesday, May 2, 2023 - 9:22am

Insect jokes bug me, so let me just say: The May Central Youth Services zine is now available for pick up at CYS or you can print one out!

banner reading: Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Monday, May 1, 2023 - 8:00am

Congress established Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month in 1992, corresponding its timing in May to two historical milestones: the arrival of the nation’s first Japanese immigrants in May 1843 and the completion of the transcontinental railroad, in which Chinese workers played a pivotal role, in May 1869. A presidential proclamation in 2021 expanded the observance to include Native Hawaiians. The Library pays tribute by offering a collection of books, events and activities, resources, and more that highlight AAPI voices and experiences.

Wednesday, April 26, 2023 - 1:29pm

With an estimated 300,000 to 600,000 people expected to converge on downtown Kansas City during the three days of 2023 NFL Draft activities, the Kansas City Public Library will close its Central Library, 14 W. 10th St., and Irene H. Ruiz Branch, 2017 West Pennway, on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, April 27-28-29, to focus our resources on locations that will be more easily accessible to our Library patrons.