The Wichita Public Library
The Wichita Public Library was established in 1876 with funds raised by local business persons. Though the town was barely twelve years old and had many “rough” edges, access to books was considered a priority in the emerging town. Chartered to the City of Wichita a decade later, the Library remained situated over the press room of the local newspaper until 1912. Taking advantage of the national building program offered by Andrew Carnegie, the town fathers determined their expanding city of 52,450 deserved a prominent structure. For the next fifty years, the Carnegie Library in downtown Wichita continued to grow and flourish. Early in 1960, riding a robust economy, city fathers envisioned a downtown convention center and revitalized river area, anchored by a landmark library structure. The energy and visibility of the proposed structure created new avenues of support, both financial and political, for the library. The Friends of the Library group, originally organized in 1938, reactivated by hosting noon time Humanities lectures, and book and author dinners, thereby drawing attention to the Library’s needs. The dedication of the new Central Library in 1967 was a high point in the Library’s history. A small system of branch libraries was established as well, providing neighborhood service throughout the city. Branch library book discussion groups soon spread throughout the city and each summer upwards of 10,000 area children enrolled in Library summer reading clubs, enjoying storytelling hours and puppet shows. Librarians regularly contributed book reviews to city newspapers and radio shows. For the next decade, the Library enjoyed the City’s esteem and its full financial support, evidenced by the thousands of citizens who regularly used its services.
This picture had changed fundamentally just ten years later. Wichita’s reliance on the manufacture of durable goods left its economy highly vulnerable to sudden downturns. In the 1980’s, reflecting the decline in area industries and subsequently in property taxes, the Library’s budgets became leaner. Available annual funds for book collections and badly needed equipment fell consistently to just under 10% as Library Board members and WPL administrators petitioned City Hall unsuccessfully for personnel and funding.
During this same time, Wichita changed from a city commission to a city council form of government with a directly elected mayor. Seven persons formed the City Council, each representing a defined area and population in the city. In accordance with this change, the Board of Directors of the Wichita Public Library system was reorganized by charter ordinance in 1980. Fourteen members are now appointed for two year terms by the Mayor and City Council, each being responsible for the appointment of two board members. The Library Board retained exclusive authority in handling its operation except for the authority for issuing bonds and levying taxes, which remained vested in the City Council.
This change in City government had an adverse effect on the Library’s funding. Unlike the majority of libraries in Kansas, the Wichita Public Library is funded through the property tax generated General Fund, rather than a dedicated mill levy. Thus, the Library enters each year on a line item budget determined through extensive negotiation and in competition with other public services such as Police, the Fire Department, and Parks. By 1990 several significant changes in the fabric of the community had impacted the Library’s financial future as well. Increasing gang activity, violent deaths and a rising crime rate alarmed citizens and generated a voter mandate for public safety. Council members responded by reallocating $10,000,000 over four years from the General Fund to hire and train additional police officers. This action reduced or flatlined budgets in less “visible” City departments. The practical effect of this at the Library was to cut personnel, shorten service hours, reduce adult programming and of course, to buy fewer books.
In 1991, analyzing its future capacity to meet the educational, recreational and cultural needs of the community, the Wichita Public Library took the first of three critical strategic steps. Through the findings of two separate comprehensive studies, the Library Board requested the governing body of Sedgwick County for $200,000 in annual support to be used exclusively for books and materials. These funds would replace those cut from City budget for public safety issues. While County citizens currently only pay .75 mills annually to a regional library system, their elected representatives saw no reason to apportion additional property tax support directly to the Wichita Public Library for existing service. The request was denied.
Without the hope of County support, Library administrators next commissioned a branch study of the entire Library system to evaluate its overall effectiveness. In 1993, based on recommendations generated by this comprehensive study, the Library Board was asked to close the Aley, Orchard, Planeview, Minisa, and Linwood branches, consolidating services, books and personnel resources into the Central Library and the remaining six branch libraries. Survival had become a matter of economics: fewer sites meant a greater share of available resources and service.
As the Library Board opened public hearings on this proposal, branch library supporters petitioned City management, made their case in the press and generally made closing branches a political nightmare. After lengthy discussion, the closing plan was scrapped by all involved. Library pleas for increased City funding went unanswered and management was told to do more with less.
By 1993, in the face of ten years of 9-10% budget allocations for books, quality had declined in many of the collections, and along with it, the Library’s reputation. A feasibility study in 1990 returned by area business leaders cited “out of date, tired resources,” lack of service, and electronic inaccessibility as significant Library problems. Working within budget constraints tempered by inflationary book prices, WPL collection specialists tried to keep pace with important new releases, but had little hope of replacing lost or damaged texts. Heavily used Humanities collections began to show their age, reflecting fewer and fewer examples of recent scholarship. Staff morale was low. The public perception of inadequate resources, poor service and sub-standard quality was becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. Clearly, all avenues for governmental help had been fully explored and had ultimately failed. For Library management, it was time to retrench and explore new avenues of support.
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