Kearney Public Library Expanding to Better Serve Area Citizens

Kearney Nebraska is turning ground for a much needed renovation and expansion on the Kearney Public Library. The first leg of the Kearney Public Library will be the expansion. Once that is complete, all library material will be moved into the expansion so renovations can take place on the present Kearney library facility.

When I first moved to Kearney as a teen with my family in 1970 the Kearney Public Library was an old Carnegie library building, built in 1904, with narrow stairs up to the main floor. This was a problem for me since I was in a wheelchair and negotiation was a problem.

The Carnegie library, after many renovations, gave way to the much more accessible Kearney Public Library on the same location, but without stairs to enter the new, spacious facility. The new library opened in 1975. I became a regular user of this new library.

The library was accessible, with an elevator and a handicap bathroom. The new Kearney Public Lbrary was well designed for the time. But as Kearney, in the middle of Nebraska, grew and expanded and boomed, as technology demanded computer access in the library, the Kearney Public Library outgrew its facilities.

The computer lab never really had adequate facilities as the building had not been designed with technology in mind. Sound carries from one part of the Kearney Public Library to the other, even from the second floor down. There are bathroom facilities only on one level. There are not enough study rooms or any place youth can call their own where others are not disturbed. Shelves are bursting with books, shelves are placed every where and some of the amenities, such as comfortable chairs, have been replaced by shelves of material.

As a member of Kearney Friends of the Library, a director and past president of that organization, I understood the needs of the Kearney Public Library for more space. At one point, Kearney Friends of the Library, who organized to get the 1975 library built, collected donations for a drive up window. This project was scrapped when the need for space at the Kearney Public Library had become much larger than the need, and the desire of users, for a drive up window.

Kearney, Nebraska needed a new library. But the city had more pressing concerns. Finally, plans were drawn up for a magnificent expansion and renovation project for the Kearney Public Library. Kearney citizens gave their input. This would be quite the building and quite the project. Even though I was involved with as a user and active member of Kearney Friends of the Library, I had concerns about the plans. Too much, too expensive and added too much burden to already reluctant Kearney residents. That expansion and renovation failed because Kearney citizens wanted something less palatial and more practical.

This time those requirements have been met. With the support and donations from individuals, businesses and the city, the new Kearney Public Library will be built. Completion date: two years. The new library, built for the needs of today in and for a growing Nebraska city, will take Kearney citizens far into the future.

My experiences and involvement
Historical Dates from Buffalo Tales http://bchs.kearney.net/BTales_199003.html