Everyone from our frontline librarians to Director Crosby Kemper III takes pride in the often cutting-edge services offered by the Library, in our efforts to help chart a course for 21st-century libraries nationwide.

The 2017 Veterans Writing Workshop is designed to help veterans and their families develop the writing and narrative skills that can empower them to tell their stories, whether they be true-life accounts or wholly original tales. The workshop is free and open to past or present military members and family members of veterans. Each of the four-hour sessions is conducted by professional writers and educators; they provide the same high level of instruction as a college or university writing course.
 

September is Library Card Sign-up Month, and the Kansas City Public Library is celebrating and hopefully inspiring by having staff rifle through their wallets and closets to find the earliest library cards they own. 
 

On July 18, 2017, the heads of four KC-area library systems – Johnson County’s Sean Casserly, KCK’s Carol Levers, Mid-Continent’s Steve Potter, and KCPL’s Crosby Kemper III – joined KCPT’s Nick Haines for a public conversation at the Plaza Branch about Libraries Out Loud, a documentary series celebrating the work of our local libraries. Produced by filmmaker and documentarian Michael Price for KCPT’s Flatland website, the film series touches on ways today’s libraries fulfill their traditional missions while also serving our communities in innovative and vital ways.
 

Kansas City Councilman Quinton Lucas offered a moving tribute to libraries in general, and the Kansas City Public Library in particular, at a recent event at which the city and the Library were presented a 2017 LibraryAware Community Award.