photo by: Shawn Valverde

File photo of the Lawrence Public Library on Friday, July 26, 2024.

At two town hall meetings next week, the Lawrence Public Library’s leaders hope to get more ideas from the public to help guide the creation of the library’s master plan.

The library will have two meetings next week: one at its building at 707 Vermont St. from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, March 23, and the other at Johnny’s West, 721 Wakarusa Drive, from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 25. The meetings are town-hall style, and attendees won’t have to stay for the whole time.

The town halls will feature several stations where residents can share their thoughts through “interactive and engaging” activities, said Brad Allen, the library’s executive director. The ideas shared during the meetings will help the library and consultants from Margaret Sullivan Studio create the new facilities master plan, which began in December 2024, as the Journal-World reported.

The town halls are the latest step in the master plan process. Earlier this year, LPL sent out a community survey that asked which services residents would like to see and how the library could expand. Allen said the library and its partners are starting to analyze the data collected from that survey. Over 3,200 people filled it out, which Allen said is a “really strong number for a town our size.”

One priority was getting data from people who might not use the library as much. Allen said the team used targeted social media ads and other methods to encourage those responses.

The early findings showed that the library was “pretty well used,” Allen said, but there are always ways to improve. Allen said people often make decisions based on comfort and convenience, so learning about what sorts of programs or services would fit those needs is important for the facilities master plan.

“It’s trying to figure out ways to become more convenient,” Allen said.

photo by: Kim Callahan

Library director Brad Allen welcomes the crowd at the Lawrence Public Library’s celebration of summer reading and the 10th anniversary of its building on Friday, July 26, 2024.

The other important thing is to grow the library’s reach outside of the downtown core. Allen said that in the early feedback, people have said the library and other downtown institutions like the Lawrence Arts Center and Watkins Museum form “an anchor” that unites the community. That is a “strong narrative,” Allen said, but not everyone can conveniently get to downtown or participate in programs there.

“Our culture lives right here in downtown, but how do we serve the rest of the community as it continues to grow?” he said.

Already in the master plan process, Allen said the library is getting a sense of what people in Lawrence want to see in the future. The survey included questions not just about the library’s future, but also what they want in the city as a whole. Although those questions might have seemed overly broad, Allen said, they reveal what residents see as gaps in Lawrence’s services and amenities, and that can help the library plan and think of additional partners that could help close those gaps.

Allen said the library will have more clarity in the next few weeks with the community feedback and analyzed data, and he said there should be a draft for a master plan coming in April or May. Although there is still a lot left in the process, he said he was excited for the meetings and was looking forward to hearing more of the public’s ideas.

“We’re starting to get a sense of the things people like,” Allen said. “I think some good ideas are percolating.”

The meetings include chances for attendees to win prizes, and the library is asking people to register online in advance. The link to register for Monday’s meeting is here, and the link to register for Wednesday’s is here.