Wichita Public Library
| Established | 1876 |
|---|---|
| Location | Wichita, Kansas |
| Branches | 8 |
| Access and use | |
| Population served | 353,878 |
| Other information | |
| Budget | $8,342,219 |
| Director | Cynthia Berner |
| Staff | 148 (116.3 FTE) |
| Website | wichitalibrary.org |
The Wichita Public Library is the local public library system in Wichita, Kansas. It consists of a central library located downtown and eight branch locations distributed throughout the city.
Four district/regional branches (Alford, Evergreen, Rockwell and Westlink) offer a mix of basic research tools and popular materials for education and entertainment, while the neighborhood branches (Angelou Northeast, Comotara, and Linwood) offer mostly popular fiction and media titles in their limited spaces. The Linwood Branch is located in a recreation center. The Comotara Branch Library, located inside a Dillons Supermarket, was the first branch library branch in the United States to open in a grocery store.
Local business owners funded the establishment of the library in 1876. In 1915, it expanded into a Carnegie library that would remain open until the establishment of the current Central Library in 1967.
On October 16, 2007, the Wichita City Council decided on the preferred site for a new Central Library. The site is at Second Street and McLean (Geographical coordinates: 37°41′15″N 97°20′50″W / 37.68750°N 97.34722°W). The initial building program resulted in a projected budget exceeding the amount allotted, forcing the Library to consider alternatives. In 2011, a study found that expanding the current Central Library facility would be possible, but would be more expensive than building a new facility and would not resolve building access issues. In 2012-13, the Library's Board of Directors considered a phased construction approach. The City Council authorized a request for qualifications, with a presentation by a preferred design team in summer 2014. In January 2015, Wichita City Council voted in favor of a funding agreement with the library foundation to perform the design phase.
In December 2014, the "Orchard Park" branch inside Orchard Park Recreation Center at 4808 West 9th was closed.
The Wichita Public Library offers resources including reference in person, by telephone, mail and e-mail. As of 2011, its holdings included more than 1 million volumes
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