Discover, Explore, Experience a lifetime of learning at Boone County Public Library. Our mission statement drives every aspect of our work by connecting people to the resources they need while encouraging discovery, exploration and experiential learning.

With a new post-pandemic benchmark year established in 2021, we spent the first half of 2022 growing our services and programs despite staffing shortages. A new strategic plan is in the works and will be adopted in January 2023.

BCPL increased circulation

  • Circulation of physical items increased by 6% over last fiscal year.

BCPL hosted 4 traveling exhibits 

  • September 11, 2001: The Day That Changed the World – The exhibit was created by the 9/11 Memorial & Museum to mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11. A printed or digital version was made available at each location. 
  • Telling a People’s Story: African-American Children’s Illustrated Literature – The panel exhibit celebrated African-American authors and illustrators of children’s picture books.
  • Dinosaurs: Land of Fire and Ice – This exhibit from the Minnesota Children’s Museum enabled kids to travel back in time to explore the age of the dinosaurs.
  • Measurement Rules – From the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, this exhibit encouraged kids to explore nonstandard ways of measuring.

BCPL received several grants

  • 2021 Digital Inclusion from Kajeet – received 20 hotspots and 12 months of service.
  • American Rescue Plan funds – $10,187.77 to create outdoor spaces and $29,012.77 to cover our portion of the KYVL databases.
  • 400 Year of African American History Commission – $5,000 to install a historic marker near the Florence Cemetery commemorating the former enslaved and their descendants buried in the African American portion of the cemetery.
  • Texas A&M – $2,200.97  to fund a space and equipment to conduct interviews of veterans.
  • American Library Association – $1,000 host a Let’s Talk About It: Women’s Suffrage program.
  • Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives – $100,000 to create a mobile version of the Boone Innovation Lab.
  • Kentucky Heritage Council’s CLG (Certified Local Government) – $7,500 to contract a professional consultant to revise the James Dinsmore House National Register nomination form to include historic documentation justifying significance for the extensive African American occupation of the site.
  • Network to Freedom – $5,000 to host exhibits and programs at Dinsmore

BCPL offered in-person and virtual programs for adults and children

Adults: 22,078 attended 5,837 adult programs

We align our adult programs with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) 21st century skills. The ability to live and work in today’s world depends on utilizing 21st century skills. Cognitive abilities continue to develop after adults leave formal education so obtaining new skills is important.  Furthermore, for older adults, educational activities increase the brain’s ability to compensate for age-related changes, and regular social interaction is an important predictor of healthy brain aging.

Children: 54,076 attended 2,792 children’s programs

We work to help meet the needs of early literacy through our Youth Services department. Our Early Literacy Learning services and programs support the foundation of pre-reading and language enrichment skills crucial to the young child’s cognitive and social development. Our professional librarians and early childhood educators work with parents, educators and caregivers to provide the collections, resources and support they need to assist young minds in being ready to read which leads to a lifelong habit of reading for pleasure and knowledge.

  • Storytimes model the 5 early literacy practices (singing, talking, reading, writing, and playing) to help prepare children for kindergarten.
  • Read with a Teen trains middle and high school students to mentor children in grades K-3 in reading skills. 
  • Pages and Paws and Paws to Read programs allow children in grades K-5 to practice reading to dogs, providing a nonjudgmental audience for the child to increase their confidence in reading aloud. 
  • Free enrichment and intergenerational programs help families make learning together a regular practice. We understand our mission to lead in literacy as a directive to provide high-quality services.

BCPL moved forward on several projects recommended in the Facilities Master Plan

  • The Teen Scene at the Main Library was moved to the second floor
  • The Book Cellar at the Main Library was renamed Buy the Book, moved to the first floor, and is now open whenever the library is open. 
  • Omni Architects was chosen to design the new Walton Branch which will span several fiscal years.

BCPL created new plans for Chapin Memorial Library

BCPL temporarily closed Chapin Memorial Library in March 2022 due to lack of staffing. After reviewing a new service model, the location will reopen as Chapin Memorial Express in FY2023.

BCPL founded a Foundation

The Boone County Public Library Foundation was founded in 2022 as an independent, 501(c)3 non-profit organization to enhance and support Boone County Public Library resources, collections, programs, and services beyond the means of public funding. The Foundation builds relationships with Library supporters to stimulate voluntary financial support to enhance the programs, services, collections, projects, and facilities, to apply for grants, and to acquire and administer funds devoted to these purposes. It is the drive of the Foundation to provide a source for funding for which the Library tax or other sources of government funding is inadequate or unavailable; but it is not the purpose of this foundation to replace the funding that the Library receives from the Library tax. The foundation and the library work together, in a strong partnership, to determine where private funds can be leveraged to have the greatest impact and at the same time, not supplant the public’s responsibility for funding a strong library system.  The Boone County Public Library Foundation supports the library by helping to fund the following signature initiatives:

  • Boone County Borderlands Archive & History Center at Boone County Public Library
  • Early Childhood Literacy (Boone County Dolly Parton Imagination Library)
  • Summer Reading Program
  • Capital Projects
  • General Operating (programs and collections)

BCPL’s Local History Department changed its name to Boone County Borderlands Archive and History Center at Boone County Public Library

The Boone County Fiscal Court adopted a resolution forming the Boone County Archive Commission. The Commission is made up of the Director of the Boone County Library; three Private Citizens appointed by the Boone County Judge Executive for a four-year term; the Boone County Clerk; the Boone County Historic Preservation Review Board Chair; and the Boone County Circuit Clerk. The Boone County Borderlands and Archive Center at Boone County Public Library will continue to chronicle Boone County’s past.

BCPL continues to build strong community partnerships

Partnerships help us amplify our work. We partner with Boone County School District, Walton Verona Independent School District, Boone County Early Childhood Fund, Boone County Elder Abuse Task Force, Boone County Homeless Task Force, National Parks Service, Boone County Fiscal Court, Boone County Clerk, and Boone County Circuit Clerk to name a few.  

BCPL is a low cost to you

All of our work and more is supported by local tax dollars.  So what does the Library cost you?  You pay 4.5 cents for every one hundred dollars of your property’s value in taxes to the Library. This rate has dropped from 8.7 cents in 2005 to 4.5 cents for this year. Using the Library Tax Calculator, input your house value and click “get tax” to see what you pay.

Utilize the Library you’ve already paid for because we are so much more than books!