Foundation Stories

written by Shelley O’Brien, Development Director

As part of Johnson County Library’s Comprehensive Master Plan, Spring Hill and De Soto branches will be undergoing renovations in 2025 to create and improve gathering spaces, update technology, and enhance kids’ areas. In addition to updating the building, there will be new finishes (new carpeting, paint, furniture) and more intuitive collection layouts.

While the Library is updating these two branches, the Johnson County Library Foundation is raising funds to add interactive early literacy units. Interactive literacy units are designed by educators and librarians to develop the same essential pre-literacy skills as JCL’s enormously popular early literacy program, 6 by 6, Ready to Read: letter knowledge, print awareness, phonological awareness, vocabulary, print motivation, and narrative skills.

These early literacy units are colorful and child-sized, drawing children to them and introducing the concept of letters as a 3-dimensional game or puzzle. They are also nearly indestructible, with sturdy, interchangeable panels that provide fresh experiences for children while using existing equipment. More like a playground to children, these are uniquely effective teaching tools.

A major benefit of the interactive units is that they are available during all open hours of the Library. This means that even if there are no scheduled storytimes or other Library activities, families are able to enjoy the Library and have meaningful, interactive experiences on their own–especially important for parents and caregivers who can only bring their children to the library in the evenings or on weekends.

The Johnson County Library Foundation’s goal is to raise $40,000 total for an early literacy unit in both Spring Hill and De Soto. After these two units are placed, every single Johnson County Library branch will have an early literacy unit – which is amazing and shows our commitment to childhood literacy!

So far, the Foundation has raised $5,000 from an individual contributor towards the goal. If you are interested in donating, please know all amounts are welcome, and may be reserved to this fund. Fundraising for these funds will be a group effort to enhance these two new children’s areas.

If you are interested in learning more about Spring Hill and DeSoto early literacy units, or making a contribution to this fund, please email or call Shelley O’Brien at [email protected] or (913) 826-4720.

written by Shelley O’Brien, Executive Director of the Johnson County Library Foundation

As a child I spent a lot of time in the basement ‘rec room’ of our home playing with my toys and listening to music on my parents 8-track stereo system. I had 5 albums on 8-track tapes to choose from which included the Doobie Brothers and the Bee Gees. It’s no wonder why I still love yacht rock and disco!

8-tracks were seen as a technology upgrade in the 1960s and 70s. You could play your music in the car, unlike vinyl. Like all technology, 8-track became a way of the past as we upgraded to cassette tapes in the 1980s, then DVDs in the 1990s, and now streaming. 

At the Johnson County Library, we love to provide different material formats to our library patrons. We have an extensive collection of DVDs and music CDs available for you to check out. Unfortunately, obtaining and replacing these materials is getting more and more difficult for the Library. Just like 8-track tapes, DVDs are an industry that is starting to go away.

“Unfortunately, DVDs are part of a trend towards licensing instead of ownership. In other words, fewer people own physical copies in an era when we can easily stream or download instead. Whether streaming caused the DVD decline or vice-versa, many production companies just don’t create DVDs of their movies”, says Beth, our DVD selector for the Johnson County Library.

“It’s more profitable to charge for streaming access than selling copies people can own and lend out. Streaming access is a contract that does not allow redistribution by third parties (like the Library). In other words, the company that owns the intellectual property gets to choose who can watch it and where.”

You may not have noticed that Best Buy stopped carrying DVDs and Target is limiting shelf space. What you see now is Blu-Ray and 4K formats being sold to collectors. Beth continues, “limited copies of special Blu-Ray and 4K editions of some films are for sale, but the decline in physical media isn’t limited to DVD. Blu-Ray production also continues to decline. LG was one of the last big electronics companies still making Blu-Ray players, but in 2024 they announced they were ending production.”

Additionally, DVD distribution companies are now creating DVDs in a way that doesn’t work with some older DVD players. Beth continues, “many DVD players have a built-in feature to help stop bootleg movies. They won’t play DVDs that were burned onto DVD-R (or DVD-Recordable) type discs. When lots of stores sold DVDs, wholesalers had warehouses of ready DVDs to sell that were not on DVD-R. Lately, it’s much more economical for those same retailers to purchase a contract that lets them legally burn movies on DVD-R discs once an order is placed. This means DVD-R movies are pretty common in stores and libraries now.” Nothing is more frustrating than checking out a DVD at the Library to get home and it doesn’t work.

Some public libraries across the country are removing their DVD collections — and music CD’s, large print books, physical newspapers, and physical magazines. All are getting more difficult to purchase and maintain for library usage.

The world is changing rapidly, which is good and bad. For the moment, we see that physical books are here to stay. Our collection at the Johnson County Library is 50/50 physical books and digital book/audiobooks. It will be fascinating to see how the publishing industry adapts in the future.

Some say change is inevitable. We know that a lot of people love and depend on DVDs from the Library for their entertainment. At the Johnson County Library, we will try to keep this service going as long as we can, while maintaining a quality collection. Unfortunately, like the 8-track tape, DVDs may be on the decline and phasing out due to forces beyond the Library’s control. We will continue to assess and keep you updated as we navigate this new world together.

One of the reasons the Johnson County Library is an outstanding library system is the attention to detail in improving systems, procedures, policies, and even state laws to serve patrons at the highest quality levels. Staff work collaboratively behind the scenes to increase efficiencies and develop innovation around the most basic of library values: access to information.

Like many public libraries, the Johnson County Library is a popular collection library. Unlike archives or historical collections, a popular collection tries to meet the information needs that are currently popular within a community. In Johnson County, the Library has moved to a floating collection. This means that books in the 14-branch system do not have one home, but float among all branches as needed and requested by library patrons. Refining the approach to see the Library as one system, increases access to materials and provides efficiencies that benefit the Library Patrons.

Couriers move physical books daily in between the branches, but only moving books that are requested by patrons. When the book is returned, it goes on the shelf at that library branch, if there is not another pending request. This allows the Library system to focus on getting the book to the patron, instead of moving the book a second time, back to its home branch.

Adam Wathan, Associate Director for Branch Services, shared a story of the old system.

“In the past, librarians made decisions on which branch books should be shelved. For example, books on horses where often shelved at the Gardner Library because they are geographically in the country. But when we switched to one floating system, we realized that patrons in other parts of the County were more interested in books about horses. What we learned is to not make assumptions about what people want to read.”

The collection development team responds to selection requests and holds utilizing demand-based purchasing. This system is highly responsive to fluctuations in requests. For example, if a book is popular and holds are coming in at a fast rate, collection development purchases additional book copies to immediately meet the demand knowing that through word-of-mouth and the media, the requests will continue. By responding quickly, the holds list can flatten the curve, and become more manageable with the number of books the Library owns. This is not a process that allows for guessing or preference but instead is based in data and modeling. This system is applied to both physical and digital books.

Additionally, the Johnson County Library weeds physical books more quickly than other library systems. Newer books can be sold by the Friends of the Johnson County Library often getting a better price than they might receive in 6 months or a year later. The money raised is then placed back into the collection development fund to purchase more books.

The result of this innovation is increased access to information by the Library patron. The student can access the newest history book about a president for their paper, or an adult’s wait is shorter for the New York Times best seller. For a popular library collection, the Johnson County Library is meeting the patron’s needs by following and responding to their collective actions. The system is learning how to catch a trend as it starts.

One of the many digital resources students can use from the Johnson County Library is Brainfuse Help Now. This online digital platform, which requires a library card number to log in, provides K-12 students with one-on-one homework help from 2:00 pm to 11:00 pm daily and on-demand videos you can watch any time.

Have an important paper to write? Submit your paper and within one business day receive feedback and learning suggestions. Want to learn Spanish? Meet with a tutor who can work with you to practice your vocabulary words.

Why should K-12 students have all the fun? Adults can participate too, by studying for high school GED equivalency exams, U.S. citizenship prep guides, resume writing, and classes on Microsoft products like Excel and PowerPoint.  

To access Brainfuse, you need a computer, a library card/password, and an internet connection. You can do this at home, school, or the Johnson County Library. It is easy to use, and you have unlimited access to finish your daily homework or plan for your educational future.

The Johnson County Library Foundation has several donors who designate donations to Brainfuse and other digital resources. This guarantees that the program will continue to help students and they can see it as a stable resource to help them through middle school and high school. Please consider making a gift to the Library Foundation to support Brainfuse and other digital programming from the Johnson County Library.

written by Shelley O’Brien, Executive Director of the Johnson County Library Foundation

The Johnson County Library Foundation makes a donation every year to the Johnson County Library. We like to call this the “Big Check” gift. This year the Foundation is able to donate $125,536. This will go to the purchasing of physical books for all of Johnson County Library’s 14 branch libraries.

The Foundation was founded in 1996 with the idea that we would support programming, the library collection, and build an endowment. We are very lucky that leaders from the 90s thought about the future.

In practical terms, what does this donation mean?

Good question, reader – it means about 5,000 books are being added to the collection, thanks to the Library Foundation. These materials will be a mix of children, teen and adult books, DVDs, CDs, and other printed material.

Great! Where did the money come from?

From the Johnson County Library Foundation’s endowment funds which are held at the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. Over the past 20 years, donors have been giving to the Foundation and money has been saved. Some have been $20 donations all the way to planned gifts from a donor’s estate after they pass away. All the money together results in over $4 million in our accounts. For example, this year one person’s estate donated over $80,000 to the Library Foundation endowment. Truly a gift that will last forever.

What is an endowment?

An endowment is like a savings account where we don’t touch the principle or the invested dollars. Therefore, if you make a donation to the endowment, it stays there forever. We spend a portion of the profits.

Each year 3.75% of the endowment balance from the previous year is donated to the Library. Our endowments are invested in a wide variety of funds to decrease risk. Any additional funds made over the 3.75% are reinvested into the principle. It is a strategy that many non-profits and universities use to invest and spend their funds.  

Why don’t you spend all of the returns on investment?

Wow reader, you really do ask great questions. We like to stay with a consistent, fairly fiscally conservative average. If you are investing in pooled funds, you typically make 5% or a little more on average. There are good years and bad years. I’m old enough to remember the 90s dotcom bubble where my mutual funds were making 19% some quarters. And then the bubble burst where I lost money. It’s better to have a low average and save.

Who are the people in the photo?

Members of the Foundation Board and Library Board. From left to right: David Sims, Anne Blessing, Anna van Ophem, Kelly Kilgore, Mike Sherry, Bethenny Griffin, Tricia Suellentrop, Mitra Templin, Chuck Sipple, Commissioner Shirley Allenbrand, and Jeffrey Mendoza.

For any questions on the Foundation or the Foundation’s endowment, please drop me an email at [email protected]. Giving a gift to the endowment is a great way to invest in our library and our community.

written by Amber Bourek Slater, Volunteer Services Coordinator

Volunteers are an important part of the Johnson County Library. In 2023, there were 897 volunteers who provided 42,186 hours of service. To put these numbers into perspective, that is the equivalent of 21 full-time staff members. Absolutely amazing!

Did you know that Johnson County Library volunteers helped with 87 different volunteer opportunities in 2023? Teen volunteers account for almost half of those volunteers. Here are just a few of those opportunities from 2023.

• Tutored children through Homework Help, assisted with Storytimes, monitored rooms during the Writers Conference, helped set up and then clean up fundraising events, and taught English Language Learners.
• Processed over 600,000 books and other materials from the Library or donated by the community at the Friends of Johnson County Library sorting center.
• Reviewed over 1,130 books in the Johnson County Library collection, which assists patrons in selecting materials.

Often, volunteers share their talents and special skill sets, such as the leaders serving on the three library boards or providing services like photography needed for special events. They bring a passion for libraries, and many consider it a privilege to give back to something that has been such a wonderful part of their lives.

April 21^st to 27^th is National Volunteer Appreciation Week. If you see a volunteer with a yellow lanyard in one of our libraries, please introduce yourself and say, “Thank You.” The Library is very appreciative of their dedicated service that makes our community even better.

written by Shelley O’Brien, Executive Director of the Johnson County Library Foundation

It must be spring because I’m thinking about baseball. If Johnson County Library had a baseball card, it might look like this infographic. Here are all of the major statistics the Library reports to the State Library of Kansas.

The bottom line: Johnson County loves its library.

Here are the highlights:

• Physical materials – Over 1.7 million items are on our shelves. Of course, not at one time. A large percentage of our collection is always on the move. Items can be checked out, moving to another library, or being processed. This number is up since 2019. The library still purchases a lot of physical materials and keeps the stacks full.
  
• Number of People with Library Cards – Almost 43% of people in Johnson County have a library card. That is amazing.
  
• 8.3 million e-materials borrowed in 2023 – Johnson County Library made national news in January for having over 1 million Libby/Overdrive books checked out. Now we know the overall number for all digital resources being used. Whoa! That is a lot of access.

If anyone ever says that libraries are a thing of the past – show them this card, let them know they are missing out. Johnson County Library and most libraries across the U.S. are being utilized now more than ever before. It just may look a little different.