Our Mission
The North Kansas City Public Library is a welcoming doorway to a world of information. The Library promotes intellectual freedom, stimulation and curiosity for all with services that educate, enrich, entertain and inform. We connect our diverse community to relevant services and resources.
Our History
North Kansas City Library opened its doors to the public on October 17, 1936. The public library was first housed in a corner of the high school’s library. But the public library quickly outgrew the space and it became evident that a building of its own was needed. The North Kansas City Library and Recreational Building was dedicated on January 18, 1939. The original Library was located where the children's area is found in the present-day building. At this time the library’s collection featured 1,455 books.
In 2002, North Kansas City remodeled and expanded the Library building. The additional space allowed the Library to expand the collection of books, audio-books, DVDs and music CDs and to provide additional computers for public use.
The Library is governed by a nine-member Board of Trustees and Library revenue is provided primarily through a property tax levy. While North Kansas City has 4,200 residents, North Kansas City Public Library serves over 15,000 cardholders. The Library offers free library cards to residents of Kansas City’s entire five-county metropolitan area.
North Kansas City Public Library is part of Missouri Evergreen, a library consortium that allows the Library to share resources with almost 80 libraries all across the state of Missouri, including college and university libraries. This membership also provides North Kansas City Public Library patrons with interlibrary loan access to more than 3 million collection items.