Lawrence Public Library | Community Vision Plan 2026–2046

Challenge:

Lawrence Public Library is one of the most loved institutions in its city. It ranks second in Kansas for visits per capita, and residents named it their top third place without being asked. But a decade after its last renovation, the city had grown around a single downtown building operating at roughly half the recommended square footage per resident. As free public spaces across Lawrence disappeared, the library was increasingly expected to serve as a social services hub, a children’s play space, a creative studio, and a refuge, all at once. Neither Lawrence’s Plan 2040 nor its growth strategy mentioned the library at all. LPL needed a 20-year vision that could honor what the community already loved while showing how the library could grow to meet a changing city.

APPROACH:

I managed the project day to day, from kickoff through board adoption. I coordinated the LPL core team, the data partners, and MSS leadership across two in-person trips and multiple virtual workshops. I designed the engagement program, which included staff workshops, grassroots and grasstops sessions, neighborhood association conversations, and two town hall community celebrations featuring a scavenger hunt, a future library journey worksheet, and a “Library Takeover” map game. I then synthesized findings from more than 3,300 survey responses, focus groups, and LibraryIQ’s 11 community cohorts into the plan’s strategic frameworks. As primary designer and writer, I produced the full plan document and the executive summary board presentation. The plan reframes LPL as a network of community experiences delivered through partnerships, and gives the library a shared vocabulary for growing into neighborhoods across Lawrence.

The plan was adopted by Lawrence Public Library’s Board of Trustees in July 2026.