Lawrence should be embarrassed by the substandard funding for its public library.

Figures cited in Wednesday’s Journal-World on per-capita spending on public libraries in Kansas certainly are an embarrassment in Lawrence.

Among the state’s nine largest cities, Lawrence ranks eighth in library funding. At $19.90 per resident, Lawrence is far below Topeka, Salina and other large cities. Perhaps even more dramatic, however, is that Lawrence is about $10 per person below the average for spending on libraries for the entire state.

Andrew Carnegie must be turning over in his grave.

Lawrence was one of the cities that benefited from Carnegie’s project to spread public libraries across the nation so that everyone would have access to books. The Lawrence Public Library left its Carnegie home more than two decades ago, but that doesn’t mean it should leave behind its commitment to a public library that serves everyone in the community.

The library, in fact, is in danger of losing nearly $60,000 a year in grant money from the Northeast Kansas Library Service because it doesn’t meet the agency’s requirement that libraries invest at least 15 percent of their total budgets in books and materials. Lawrence’s library invests only 13 percent and is only receiving its grant funding because of a waiver from the regional library service.

It’s unlikely that funds at the library are being misdirected. More probably, there simply isn’t enough money to go around. Staffing, no doubt, is a large expense for the library because the library must have adequate staff to help patrons and deal with phone requests, but it also seems unlikely that salaries for individual library employees are anything more than adequate.

The problem seems to be that the library has, for some time, been getting by on less-than-adequate funding and the situation finally has caught up with it. Library funding arose as a campaign issue this spring, and Lawrence city commissioners now have been presented a library budget that includes a 15 percent increase in funding for next year.

City commissioners were hesitant at Tuesday night’s meeting to commit that much funding to the library, but it seems that extraordinary measures may be warranted. Library Director Bruce Flanders said the Northeast Kansas Library Service might waive its 15 percent requirement for several years, but even if Lawrence can maintain its grant funding, the people of Lawrence shouldn’t have to settle for “substandard” library services.

This is a relatively affluent community, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that not everyone can afford to buy books, subscribe to magazines or own a computer. The public library gives every resident of Lawrence free access to all of those services and more.

This also is a highly educated community and we should remember the important role our public library plays in encouraging local residents of all ages to read and learn.

A 15 percent budget increase may not be in the cards for the Lawrence Public Library this year, but the Lawrence City Commission should do what it can to try to restore the library to its rightful prominence in the state.