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This week at the Library, you can join us at:

Library OnDemand – Available anytime you like.

Your doorway into live and archived programs. Arts & Culture, Career & Finance, Community Matters, Writers and more!

Online Bilingual Storytime / Hora de cuentos bilingües en línea – Monday, March 14, 10-10:30 a.m.  

The whole family will enjoy this flexible Storytime. Hearing stories is a great way to spend time with your kids and help them foster a love of reading. Stories, songs, fingerplays and movement activities foster pre-reading skills. Fun for the whole family.

Toda la familia disfrutará de esta especial hora de cuentos bilingües. Escucha historias con tus hijos y ayúdales a cultivar el amor por la lectura. Al contar cuentos, interpretar canciones, hacer juegos con los dedos y realizar actividades de movimiento fomentamos las habilidades previas a la lectura. ¡Diversión para toda la familia!

One-on-One Genealogy Help via Zoom – Tuesday, March 15, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.   

Basic Genealogy and DNA one-on-one help sessions are now being held online via Zoom specific to your questions and research. Visit the Johnson County Genealogical Society at www.jcgsks.org to schedule an appointment. A volunteer will email a personal Zoom meeting link to you prior to the scheduled date.

Maintain Your Ride – Thursday, March 17, Noon-1:30 p.m.  

DIY bike maintenance made simple! Get your hands dirty and learn to keep your bike in tip-top shape with this FREE virtual class from Johnson County Library and BikeWalkKC. Our instructors will teach you how to keep your bike in good working order with a few basic tools and some practical know-how. 

Facebook Live Book Party – Thursday, March 17, 7-7:30 p.m.  

Facebook Live Book Parties are live events where a library staff members will booktalk a short list of titles around a certain genre or theme and staff will interact with patrons in real time.

And much more happening this week »

One of the featured activity areas in Central Resource Library's new Kids area is a Burgeon pre-literacy learning space, graciously funded by the Regnier Family Foundation, John W. & Effie E. Speas Memorial Trust, and Johnson County Library Foundation.

These interactive units  are designed by educators and librarians to develop the same essential pre-literacy skills as the Library’s signature program, 6 by 6: Ready to Read. The units are colorful and child-sized which draws children to them and introduces the concept of letters as a 3-dimensional game or puzzle. More like a playground to children, Burgeon units are effective teaching tools. You'll see unique Burgeon units at other Library locations as well!

Special thanks to the funders and our Early Literacy Team!

Library events help tell the Story of Your Life

How do we conjure our long-forgotten stories? And how can we recall those details from the past that we thought had vanished? There’s a technique for that. On Saturday, March 26, author B.J. Hollars will provide a series of generative writing prompts that will be sure to spur your memory, bring your past to the present and help you write your life’s story.

The virtual workshop, presented by the Library’s Local Writers group, is one of a three-part program series featuring Hollars, an award-winning author of several books and English professor at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire. His most recent book “Go West Young Man: A Father and Son Rediscover America on the Oregon Trail” is the story of an eye-opening 2,500-mile road trip with his six-year-old son, Henry.

Make Every Mile a Memory: A Reading and Presentation with B.J. and Henry Hollars on “Go West Young Man.” 

Tuesday, March 22, 6:30 p.m.

Travel Writing for Dummies: On Rattlesnakes, Wagon Ruts and Making the World Feel Like Home 

Wednesday, March 23, 6:30 p.m.

The Story of Your Life: Writing Your Forgotten Past Workshop 

Saturday, March 26, 9 a.m.

Looking for more events along these lines? The Library loves writers just as much as readers! To support writers at every stage, from a casual hobby to a life’s calling, Johnson County Library has developed a suite of programs, resources and opportunities to develop your craft and grow your portfolio. If you are a writer, we want to meet you, read your work and celebrate you in the community.  There is even a writing contest with a $200 honorarium!

Visit For Writers for more information about the Library’s writing programming and go to Events to register for upcoming events and workshops, including the B.J. Hollars events.

This week at the Library, you can join us at:

Library OnDemand – Available anytime you like.

Your doorway into live and archived programs. Arts & Culture, Career & Finance, Community Matters, Writers and more!

Caregiver Workshop: Power of Play in Process Art with the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art – Tuesday, March 8, 7-8 p.m.   

Whether it's finding activities to keep them busy or understanding what's going on inside their heads, being a caregiver of young children can be challenging. Each month's caregiver workshop explores a different topic to support and enrich relationships between kids age birth to 6 and their caregivers.

The Past is Prologue: The Dockum Drugstore Sit-In – Thursday, March 10, 7-8 p.m.  

In July 1958, Black students gathered at downtown Wichita’s Dockum Drugstore to stage a peaceful protest against the unequal practice of segregation. Tired of being denied access to the city’s movie theaters and restaurants, students took action and turned their attention to the lunch counter at the popular drugstore. What happened during the three-week sit-in? What caused it to end? And why was its importance recognized by so few at the time? This presentation discusses the details of the sit-in, explores how these protests helped transform the struggle for racial equality in America, and considers contemporary non-violent protests.

Legislative Coffee Series – Saturday, March 12, 10-11 a.m.  

Discover what's percolating in the Kansas Legislature. Representatives and Senators with constituents in Johnson County will discuss the new legislative session, followed by Q&A. You bring the questions!

• Senator Ethan Corson, District 7
• Representative Stephanie Clayton, District 19
• Representative Lindsay Vaughn, District 22
• Representative Heather Meyer, District 29
• Representative Brandon Woodard, District 30

And much more happening this week »

Join us for The Past is Prologue: The Dockum Drugstore Sit-In:

Thursday, March 10, 7 p.m.

Register »

The Past is Prologue is a bimonthly program that highlights topics often left out, glossed over, or misrepresented in our history books. For our March program, Prisca Barnes will present on the The Dockum Drugstore Sit-in on Thursday, March 10 at 7pm. In July 1958, Black students gathered at downtown Wichita’s Dockum Drugstore to stage a peaceful protest against the unequal practice of segregation. Tired of being denied access to the city’s movie theaters and restaurants, students took action and turned their attention to the lunch counter at the popular drugstore. What happened during the three-week sit-in? What caused it to end? And why was its importance recognized by so few at the time? This presentation discusses the details of the sit-in, explores how these protests helped transform the struggle for racial equality in America, and considers contemporary non-violent protests. 

Central Resource Library’s reopening on Feb. 22, 2022, marks another milestone in the rich history of Johnson County Library’s headquarters branch.

Central Resource first opened its doors to the public on Aug. 29, 1995, with more than 750 people flocking to see the new branch in its first four hours of opening. Since then, the building has been renovated several times as Johnson County Library has adapted to changing public needs to remain a crucial community asset.

This latest $11 million renovation unveils a new and vibrant children’s area with wonderful natural light and a new Storytime room. Other improvements include a convenient drive-thru service, upgraded technology, modernized meeting rooms, a better collection layout, reorganized materials handling for maximum efficiency and renovated staff areas to promote excellent and collaborative administration.

“The Public Library has no agenda but to provide you the information that will support and enrich your life,” said County Librarian Sean Casserley. “Our community will face many new challenges in the future. Your commitment to education, lifelong learning and your love of reading is the recipe for our community to solve any problem. The Library is a space for you and your family to explore, discover and excite your imagination. Come visit the newly remodeled Central Resource Library. I think you’ll be surprised!” 

Patrons praise the building as a fabulous setting for books, art, creative pursuits and public gatherings. But it didn’t start out as a Library. It was originally a Dolgin’s jewelry/appliance store and then a Best Products catalog showroom retail store. How it came to be Johnson County Library’s headquarters is a lively story in itself.

Johnson County’s libraries in the early 1950s were often bookmobiles or operated in homes and small storefronts by volunteers. The first official Johnson County Library was established in 1953 in Merriam. In 1956 it moved to Shawnee Mission Parkway and Antioch Road, the current Antioch branch location. A Central Reference Department was created there in 1968, and the Johnson County Genealogical Society added its collection in 1973.

In 1985, planning began for a larger headquarters building under County Librarian Roy Fox. Original plans called for a new, 160,000-square-foot building on Johnson County Community College property. Fox retired in 1988 and was replaced by County Librarian Mona Carmack. Negotiations for the new building on community college land faltered, as did a proposal for a site at College Boulevard and US-69.

Donna Lauffer, who was Deputy County Librarian at the time, recalls that Library administrators decided renovation would be more economical, and something smaller than 160,000-square-feet would provide more resources for other branches.

In 1992, Library administrators settled on a plan to renovate the vacant 90,000-square-foot Best Products building at 87th and Farley streets. But Johnson County commissioners required a public vote before the project could proceed.

On Nov. 3, 1992, a big presidential election, 72% of Johnson County voters approved a $12 million bond issue to purchase and repurpose the building. The overwhelming voter support reflected the community’s appreciation for Libraries.

“Johnson County has always loved its Library system,” said Lauffer, who went on to serve as County Librarian from 2007-2011.

Gould Evans architects designed the renovation and the groundbreaking occurred in 1994.   

“They were just great,” Lauffer said of the architects and construction crew on the complex project. “It was a huge amount of work.”

Antioch closed temporarily and its collection was moved to Central Aug. 11-17, 1995. Cost came to $12.7 million, which was $2 million less than new construction. The collection came to 500,000 materials, the bulk of Johnson County Library’s 750,000 total materials.

At a time when the Internet was just taking off, Central offered public computers and meeting rooms that were in high demand. Staff offices included administration, collections, acquisitions and information technology.

In Central’s first month, more than 1,000 people visited each day. User visits grew by 75%, circulation by 34% and library card registrations by 165% with the new facility.  

“We had a lot of students and a lot of people going back to college,” Lauffer recalled. “It was a great gathering place for all those people.”

Over the years, Central added an art gallery and other amenities. In 2016, the Library unveiled key public improvements to the facility, including a more prominent front service area, a 150-seat Carmack community room and a hugely popular expansion to the Black & Veatch MakerSpace studio, with 3D printers, laser cutters, a sound booth and more.

Prior to the Coronavirus pandemic, Central Resource Library hosted more than 450,000 visitors in 2018 and saw circulation of nearly 737,000 materials.

All the renovations, including this latest phase, have been done with an eye to creating a vibrant Library of the future. But despite all the changes, Central Resource Library’s mission remains the same: to serve as the hub of a vital organization that provides superb public service, answers questions, locates materials and supplies the resources to educate and enrich patrons’ lives.