Greetings from the Great Bend Public Library! Exciting news: “The Great Bend Public Library to Receive $10,000 Gift from Carnegie Corporation of New York.” This contribution is part of Carnegie Libraries 250, a special initiative celebrating the upcoming 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and honoring the roughly 1,280 Carnegie Libraries still serving their communities across the United States.

Scottish immigrant Andrew Carnegie founded the Carnegie Corporation of New York and subsequently funded the construction of 1,681 free public libraries nationwide between 1886 and 1917. Approximately 750 of them continue to use their original buildings, while others have moved to new locations. Although the current building is not a Carnegie library, our original building was. The old Carnegie library building at the southeast corner of Forest and Williams was demolished on Jan. 25, 1971. The building stood at that location for 62 years since its opening in 1908. Our original building was one of the many Carnegie libraries in Kansas built through this historic program, with 51 of them still in use or part of the historical registry.

We are thrilled to receive such an amazing gift from the organization that established our library in the first place. This gift honors the legacy of literacy in our community and helps us continue to provide for our patrons for years to come.

The money received from this gift will be used to revamp our lighting system, which is long overdue and has recently become a potential hazard. The wiring for our lights was done in the 1970s and has never been updated, though some pieces and parts have been replaced over time out of necessity. We are in desperate need of an entire refresh on our lights and electrical system.

You’ve heard about some places struggling to keep the lights on, but in our case, we are struggling to turn them off! Many light switches simply don’t work anymore. This has led to shorter lifespans for our lights and ballasts, which burn out quickly and waste money and materials, not to mention electricity that could be better used to keep the library a cool place to beat the heat in the summer and a warm, cozy refuge in the winter. Worst of all, the aging infrastructure is becoming a hazard. Unfortunately, rewiring to make the library more efficient and more cost-effective isn’t cheap. You have to spend money to save money, as they say.

“Our founder, Andrew Carnegie, who championed the free public library movement of the late 19th century, described libraries as ‘cradles of democracy’ that ‘strengthen the democratic idea, the equality of the citizen, and the royalty of man,’” said Dame Louise Richardson, president of Carnegie and former head of the University of Oxford. “We still believe this and are delighted to celebrate our connection to the libraries he founded.”

Patrons are invited to share their Great Bend Public Library photos, stories, and community celebrations at carnegielibraries.org.

Hannah Glass is the outreach manager at the Great Bend Public Library. To see what else staff are up to at the library, check Facebook and Instagram @greatbendpl, email gbcirc@gmail.com, or call at 620-792-2409 with any questions about programming or services.