Throughout 2024, the Library celebrated 150 years of service to the community. As we reflected on and examined our relationship with patrons and the city itself, a consistent theme emerged: The Library is an indispensable agent of community empowerment.

And, in turn, the community has empowered the Library. 

In fact, the Library sprang from a concerted effort by 1870s-era Kansas Citians. What started as a set of encyclopedias on a single, $8 bookcase grew into a system that now includes 10 locations and a digital branch. 

Because the community wanted it. 

In 2024, those locations saw well over 1 million visitors who borrowed 915,219 books and 1.5 million eBooks, audiobooks, music videos, and podcasts. The Library also gained more than 50,000 new cardholders.

Over the years, countless staff members and donors have invested in improving upon and building the services offered to the community.

For instance, this year, Books to Go marked 30 years of delivering books to children at daycare and early education centers in the Library’s 75-square-mile service area. The Library accepted the donation of nearly 7,000 books through community outreach, and close to 73,000 books or other materials made it into the hands of children just learning to read and love books. 

Also in the 150-year-long tale, is the broader narrative of how, as the Library grew and changed, so did Kansas City alongside it – which came with a shift in what Kansas Citians needed.

Bridging the digital divide has been an extremely important mission for many decades now. Since 1985, the Library has provided public access to computers. What started as a handful of Apple IIe model desktops at seven Library locations has grown into a much larger program that provides critical access to equipment, software, and Wi-Fi.

In the past year, patrons logged 134,925 free, on-site Wi-Fi sessions. They also borrowed 689 hotspots and 1,713 laptops – checked out exactly as someone might check out a book.

The establishment of the Library gave everyone, regardless of social class or education level, the same access to each era's technology, knowledge, engagement with the arts, a seat at the table for community fellowship, and front-row seats to talks by great thinkers and writers.

The fiscal year 2024 brought more than 13,000 patrons, in person, to the Library for 79 Signature Events, including those in the 150th anniversary speaker series: author Jacqueline Woodson, winner of the National Book Award, Coretta Scott King Award, and a Newbery Honor; NPR’s All Things Considered host Ari Shapiro; and literary icon and luminary Margaret Atwood, author of dozens of books, including The Handmaid’s Tale.

Over the years, hundreds of thousands of patrons have walked the stacks and quietly read at our tables, each one adding to the fabric of the institution and, therefore, the community in small and large ways.  

The Library wouldn’t be what it is today without each one of those people. Without you.

Read the full report.

Please consider making a gift today to support Library services that are essential to the lives of so many Kansas Citians.