“Without the library, I probably wouldn’t have the career I have now. As the child of a divorced mother who really struggled to make ends meet, there were a lot of times we didn’t have the money to buy books. But thanks to the library I could read my fool head off, and that’s what made me into a writer.”
– Lisa, Anchorage Public Library patron
The Anchorage Library Legacy Fund is designed to provide long-term, sustainable funding to the library. As the Library Legacy Fund grows, it will generate income that can be used to continue to improve the Anchorage Public Library for our benefit, and the benefit of all the children and generations who follow us.
The Anchorage Public Library is a cherished institution that improves the lives of the citizens of Anchorage. The first Anchorage library appeared in the new tent city on Ship Creek in 1917. Today’s bustling Anchorage Public Library circulates over 1.7 million books, media, and digital materials a year. The main Z.J. Loussac Library and its four neighborhood libraries (Chugiak-Eagle River, Mountain View, Muldoon, and Girdwood’s Gerrish Branches) serve over 940,000 visitors each year, which exceeds total attendance at the Sullivan Arena by more than 74%. Additionally, over 60,000 children and adults participate in library programs each year.
For the past 40+ years the Anchorage Library Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that is a separate entity from the Anchorage Public Library, has bolstered the achievements of the Anchorage Public Library. The Foundation was established in 1982 by local visionary Wilda Marston. She realized that public funding for libraries would ebb and flow, but a foundation would ensure that the Library system would always have adequate funding to thrive. Marston gathered fellow library supporters, Eric Wohlforth, Wilda Hudson, Arne Espy, and Arliss Sturgulewski, to create the first Anchorage Library Foundation board.
Since then, and with help from community members like you, the Anchorage Library Foundation has raised funds to open new libraries, launch new education initiatives, and support critical library programs like classes, technology, and Live at the Library.
Past Projects Include:
- Laptops for check-out and educational resources for students, 2021
- STEM Kits, 2020
- Tundra Vision Talks, 2019-20
- Community Resource Coordinator program (Social Workers in the Library), 2018
- Entrance Renovation at Loussac Library, 2017
- Innovation Lab at Loussac Library, opened 2014
- Play and Learn at Loussac Library, opened 2013
- Teen Underground at Loussac Library, opened 2011
- Mountain View Library, opened 2010
- Chugiak-Eagle River Library, opened 2009
- Girdwood Library, opened 2008
- Muldoon Library, opened 2007
Thank you for your interest in contributing to the Library Legacy Fund! For more information about the Library Legacy Fund please contact the Anchorage Library Foundation in any of the following ways:
P.O. Box 244714
Anchorage, AK 99524
Phone: 907-343-2978
Tax I.D. #92-0081583
Website: https://librarychampion.com/donate/planned-gifts/
Email: info@librarychampion.com