Our Children's Library Expansion Project
Update from the Director
An agreement between the City of Manhattan, the Library Board of Trustees and the Library Foundation passed the City Commission on March 26th. Now we can begin work with the architect to develop design plans and schematics in order to proceed with construction bids. The next city commission will need to approve financing options and award the construction bid. While we don’t have the exact schedule yet, we expect the project will be ready for bidding mid to late summer.
Thanks to your tremendous support, the Foundation is able to commit $800,000 toward the project. Keep watching this web site. There will be an opportunity for you to review plans and comment on the design and development of your library.
- Linda Knupp
Director, Manhattan Public Library
Downloadable Information
Ways to Give
Your gift lends support to the building expansion, the future of the library and our community. There are many ways to contribute and no donation is too large or too small. All gifts are deductive for tax purposes under the extent of the law.
Please click the following links to learn more about that donation:
Testimonies
As children, Sharon and I were blessed with the opportunity to have and frequent our hometown libraries. Sharon looked forward to the days the Bookmobile came to her neighborhood where she was allowed to check out three books at a time! For me, it was a Godsend, coming from a single parent home where my mother worked twelve-hour days. The city library occupied a good deal of my time, which could have easily been spent around inappropriate influences.
To this day I remember roaming through the endless shelves of books. The hours passed quickly. Having viewed the programs at the Manhattan Public Library, we realize that the offerings are far greater than when we were children. It is truly impressive how much is being offered the youth of our community. Our gratitude goes out to those of you who support these programs and the community?s investment in our library.
Both of us are asking for your support with this project, as it will help the children in our community for years to come.
Bill and Sharon Snyder
It is hard for us to believe that our family has been part of the Manhattan community for more than three years now. We fell in love with the Little Apple back in 2009. Since then, so many exciting changes?from the Flint Hills Discovery Center to downtown redevelopment?have made our love for this community grow even deeper.
Now, our hometown is on the cusp of another development: more opportunities for children at our local library. The Manhattan Public Library needs $800,000 to increase the size of the children's room by more than 4,000 square feet and add additional public space to better serve our community.
As engineers, we like looking at the numbers. The numbers at the Manhattan Public Library tell a story of children?s services desperately in need of space. Between 1998 and 2011, the circulation of children's materials grew 86-percent. In that same time, participation in programs like bilingual story times and puppet shows increased 69-percent. Each of the children?s room computers is used, on average, every hour of the day that the library is open.
Although our two sons are nearly grown, we remember how important those early reading and learning experiences were to them as children. What better place to get those experiences than the local library? With our support, this resource can do some even more amazing things for children and their families right here in our hometown.
We encourage you to partner with the library to make this addition possible. We have the opportunity to improve literacy and give even more people a reason to fall in love with our community.
Kirk & Noel Schulz
