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Our Early Literacy Librarian, Bradley (known as Mr. Bradley to his droves of Storytime fans!) introduces you to our 6 by 6: Ready to Read skills in this short video. Children start getting ready to read long before they start school, and studies show that success in elementary school can be linked to the number of words a child hears before their third birthday. Let Mr. Bradley, our Youth Librarians at each Library location, and our 6 by 6: Ready to Read program help you and your children have fun reading together!

Our newest location, Monticello Library, is designed to be as flexible as possible. We know that our community’s library service needs change over time, so we’re eager to help Library buildings adapt to properly meet those needs. 

For those of you who have visited our newest branch, you’ll notice there are few permanent interior walls. To add to all that open space, we’ve taken the additional step of installing raised floors throughout the building. They make it easy to route power and communication cables wherever they are needed, and allow quick reconfiguration of service areas within the library.

Enjoy this time-lapse video of the raised floor installation earlier this year. And if you feel taller when you go to Monticello Library, just think: you are!

The Writers Place, Uptown Arts Bar, Rainy Day Books… our metro community boasts many superb venues where writers can share their work. Our favorite is – no surprise – Johnson County Library.

It’s no wonder we love our Library as a home for authors. Since September 2015 Johnson County Library has provided monthly writing contests and we couldn’t be more proud of the results. Check out our past winners here, or come hear local poet Natasha Ria El-Scari introduce four of our recent winners on Wednesday, August 15th at 6 pm at Leawood Pioneer Library. Annie Newcomer won in the open category for the theme Build a Better World with her poem Caregivers. Marcia Hurlow, Kristin Pitts and Lisa Allen all won under the Ain’t it the Truth theme. Marcia Hurlow won with her poem Maps; Kristin Pits with her short story Last Night; and Lisa Allen won in the Open Category with her poem Adoration.

Our current theme is Music, followed by Women’s Voices in the Fall. There is no cost to enter and winners receive a $200 honorarium and an opportunity to read at a library or Writers Place event. Contests are cosponsored by the Johnson County Library Foundation and The Writers Place. Enter our contest now »