After a long tenure as the city’s public library and a prominent second chapter as home of the Lawrence Arts Center, the Carnegie building at Ninth and Vermont streets is looking for a third career.

The Lawrence City Commission has considered several proposals for the building’s rebirth and will receive a report on their rankings of those uses at tonight’s meeting. Commissioners ranked the proposals on several criteria including what would draw the maximum public and community use, what would encourage community collaboration and community building, what would highlight the building’s history and be a good addition to downtown. Logically, they also are interested in minimizing the city’s costs in the project and approving a project that has a strong prospect of long-term success.

A number of alternatives have emerged. The one that received the top score from city commissioners is the “Langston Hughes Center for Community Enrichment.” The plan envisions a place where people could come to pursue cultural endeavors. Art and computer classes are part of the plan, along with a center to fight illiteracy.

The plan would be a fitting tribute to one of Lawrence’s most notable figures, Langston Hughes, who spent considerable time at the Carnegie library during his childhood. Another proposal that would honor that past is a plan to have the building revert to library status, serving as a library and museum for children. Other options at the top of the commission’s rating sheet would be to use the building for a parks and recreation facility or as an “art commons.”

Lower on the list are uses that appear to be targeted at smaller groups of Lawrence residents. At the bottom of the list is using the building as a homeless shelter, an idea the City Commission already has rejected.

The criteria set by the commission are good ones. The Carnegie building is a historical structure in a prominent downtown location. It should be used in a way that serves all of Lawrence and attracts many visitors from inside Lawrence, outside Lawrence or both.

This building is a true gem in the community and it deserves a true gem of an idea to guide its future. Perhaps one of the ideas on the table is that gem — or could be with a few artful modifications — but the city shouldn’t settle for a mediocre plan or one that is simply “good enough.” It should be a wonderful facility that serves a purpose as noble and focused on the public as Andrew Carnegie’s original mission to build libraries across America.

Commissioners have said they would like to choose a proposal for the library by the end of the year. Perhaps they will be able to meet that deadline, but if the right proposal hasn’t been submitted, the commission should be willing to wait until the right idea comes along.