Johnson County Public Library reports record circulation, warns of state funding changes

Lisa Littner, director of the Johnson County Public Library, told the Johnson County Board of Commissioners on April 13 that the library circulated about 1,300,000 items last year and continues to see strong program attendance.

"We circulated 1,300,000 items," Littner said, adding that roughly 923,000 of those were physical items and about 420,000 were digitally downloaded. She said the system had about 387,000 visitors, issued 11,000 new library cards last year and counts nearly 56,000 regular users.

The director highlighted the library’s program reach: JCPL offered roughly 3,400 programs and outreach events with nearly 78,000 attendees, and the summer reading program logged about 5,100,000 minutes of reading among more than 6,000 participants. Littner said the library ranks third in the state for program attendance among library districts of its size.

Littner outlined a rolling five-year strategic plan, including a new world-language collection, expanded services for seniors (a new "Senior Pathways" series), and a growing teen-volunteer program. She also described partnerships and a recent large early-learning grant that supports preschool resources in cooperation with Windrose Health Network.

Littner said some capital work has been paused while the library assesses the effects of recent state legislation. "We paused our project to improve the White River branch back in May because we were uncertain of what SEA 1 was going to do," she said, and added the library will explore restarting the renovation now that some details are clearer.

On funding, Littner described several state bills she said will affect the library’s revenue. She said "SEA 1 reduced some of our property tax income and it created a new way that we're gonna be receiving our local income tax, which is 40% of our budget," and that a separate bill (referred to in the presentation as "HEA 12/10") moved an implementation date to 2029. She also said another newly enacted law (referred to in the presentation as "14 06") reduces the annual growth quotient libraries may accept to 49% or face binding review.

Commissioners asked about accessibility and inclusion work; Littner noted a grant to improve services for patrons with autism and explained the library is using the term "neurodiverse" in some program materials. Commissioners also asked about public engagement for planned America’s 250th events and the library’s plan for recruiting table captains for a countywide "longest table" event.

Littner said staff will continue working with the county and the library district on funding questions and will bring updates and any necessary budget petitions to the County Council.

The presentation was informational; no formal county action was taken on library budget items during the meeting.