The historic Carnegie Library building is a prime downtown space for two nonprofit groups that want to serve Lawrence, but it might not be big enough for both of them.

The Langston Hughes Center for Community Enrichment, which wants to use the building at Ninth and Vermont streets to promote “diverse literacies,” sent a letter to the Lawrence City Commission saying the Carnegie wasn’t big enough for it and a second group that wants to create an “arts commons” in the building that has been vacant since the Lawrence Arts Center moved.

“We hoped to collaborate with the people who are proposing an arts commons,” said Elizabeth Schultz, who represents the Langston Hughes group. “But there is after all limited space under the roof of the Carnegie building.”

She asked the commission to endorse the Hughes group and move forward with interior renovations to the building.

That came as a surprise to Diana Dunkley, an artist who is helping promote the arts commons proposal. She said negotiations between the two groups had appeared to be reaching agreement.

“We don’t know what the City Commission would like to do,” Dunkley said. “But we thought they clearly said they’d like to see two programs under one roof, and we feel that’s a doable thing.”

The building has been mostly empty since spring 2002, when the Lawrence Arts Center vacated it for new digs in the 900 block of New Hampshire Street. Before that, the Carnegie building served as the city’s library from 1904 to 1972, reputedly the location where writer Langston Hughes read some of his first books. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The commission in November rated the Hughes plan and the arts commons as the best proposals out of nearly a dozen ideas, and instructed the two groups to try to find a way to share the space.

The Hughes 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 arts commons, meanwhile, would serve as a studio residence for four artists to receive professional mentoring.

The Carnegie Library building, mostly empty since the Lawrence Arts Center moved to New Hampshire Street, is the center of two groups' plans. The Langston Hughes Center for Community Enrichment and an arts commons proposal both have designs on uses for the building.

In her letter, Schultz said the two groups had divergent aims — the arts commons is oriented to serve adults, she said, while the Hughes Center would serve all ages.

“Believe me, we are sorry it didn’t work out,” Schultz told the Journal-World. “If either one of our organizations wanted to grow, there wouldn’t be space for us to grow.”

Dunkley disagreed.

“We still think there’s hope,” she said. “I think it could be a great mix. And I think two programs in the Carnegie building would much more assure its financial stability.”

Commissioners last week were not ready to tip their hands as to which group they might favor.

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“I guess I would like to see those two groups come to us and make their individual presentations,” Commissioner David Schauner said.

The commission will formally receive the Hughes group’s letter at its next meeting, 6:35 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, Sixth and Massachusetts streets.