From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Sept. 3, 1973:

A proposal to use the old city library as an “arts and crafts center” was to be received at this week’s Lawrence City Commission meeting. The commission had asked for bids on the building at Ninth and Vermont last December, but the offers received had been regarded as too low. Commissioners were generally in favor of either selling the building and its four lots or making a parking lot on the site. The new proposal to use the old library had been made by the Kaw Valley School of Crafts and the Performing Arts and the Meade Hall Players. “If rent is minimal or even free, we definitely could afford to preserve the building in a tastefully artistic manner,” said Betty Dutton, who was representing one of the interested groups. Also on the agenda for the commission meeting were a site plan for a Quick-Stop Photo Shop to be located at the Hillcrest Shopping Center about 70 feet northeast of the Medical Arts Building, another site plan for a building to be located adjacent to the Sears building at Hillcrest, a public hearing on sidewalk construction at various locations on Iowa and 19th Streets, and a discussion on storm water issues near Fourth Street and the Turnpike Access Road.