The Anchorage Public Library and Anchorage Library Foundation are working to establish a downtown library. In addition to serving people who live and work downtown, the downtown library has the potential to play an important role in the revitalization of downtown and could serve as an anchor tenant for a multi-use development.
This project is largely made possible by a generous bequest from Janet and John Goetz, long-time downtown residents who had the vision to establish a walkable library to serve the diverse needs of downtown residents, workers, and visitors.
Funds are still needed to make the downtown library a reality, and to keep it open and staffed. For more information about the downtown library project, please see these articles:
ADN Article – Internet access. Maybe a cafe. And books, of course. A downtown Anchorage library is moving closer to reality.
ADN Article – A longtime Anchorage resident wanted a downtown library. She left a lot of money for it.
About the Anchorage Library Foundation
Believing that free public libraries are essential to our community, the Anchorage Library Foundation works to promote, fund, and support the long-term vitality of the Anchorage Public Library.
In the early 1980s, Anchorage libraries saw a period of rapid growth. The passage of municipal bonds and a grant from the state allowed for several large construction and renovation projects, including the creation of the central Loussac Library.
During this time, library advocate Wilda Marston had a vision to create a Foundation to support the long-term goals of the Anchorage Public Library. 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. The organization was incorporated in 1982.
A separate entity from the Public Library, the Anchorage Library Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit.
Contributions to the Foundation help launch new library initiatives and pilot projects, and fund upgrades at the Loussac and neighborhood libraries.
P.O. Box 244714
Anchorage, AK 99524
Phone: 907-343-2978
Tax I.D. #92-0081583
Website: https://librarychampion.com/projects/downtown/
Email: info@librarychampion.com