Limited career opportunities for women in the mid-20th Century, and a chance encounter with a County Commissioner at a cocktail party led to a decades-long commitment to the Johnson County Library and lifelong love of public service.
Caroline McKnight, as a college student in the 1960s, was faced with the few professional choices. She shied away from being a nurse, a secretary and even a school teacher. But she loved the idea of teaching and learning so she studied Library Science at the University of Oklahoma. That eventually lead her to the new, fast-growing Shawnee Mission School District in 1971.
“I didn’t know enough to be scared,” she said recently during at interview at the Central Resource Library. As a school librarian, she was given the kind of autonomy that suited her perfectly.
“I wanted to be in education. I wanted a way to be a teacher, but without the daily grind and responsibility of the classroom,” McKnight said. Her job included building a collection and a curriculum to serve the diverse needs of her students. She polished the skills that would serve her well in her work with the Johnson County Library.
But first, she took time off from the workforce to be a mom, again, like many women of the era. Fast forward to 1995 and she found herself at a cocktail party related to her husband’s work. One of the guests was Sue Weltner, a former Prairie Village mayor and a then-current member of the Johnson County Commissioner.
“She came up to me and said, ‘I understand you are a librarian,’ ” McKnight remembered. “She needed to appoint someone to the Library board and I said ‘Sure.’ ’’
Far from being a cushy volunteer role, McKnight recalled a rather contentious time on the Board. Some on the County Commission, she said, were questioning the on-going support of the Library. (One person went so far as to suggest it wasn’t important for the county to provide books for citizens since there were plenty available at garage sales!)
“So, this was the seed of the Library Foundation,” McKnight said. “We wanted to be able to have funds for the collection that we could spend at our own discretion.”
While continuing to serve on the Library Board, McKnight was among those who helped establish the Foundation in 1996. When she rolled off the Library governing board after 8 years in 2003, she remained with the Foundation, serving as a board member for 21 years until 2017. But she is still not finished.
“There is so much invested in this Library that it must be protected,” she said, getting a little emotional as she thought of all the people who are served.
“Libraries are designed to serve every interest, and we are very intentional about that,” she said. “Libraries are both transactional and transformational. We serve everyone, at no cost. We can help people get what they need – that’s the transaction. And what you need can transform you.
“There is no better place.”
McKnight has watched as libraries themselves have been transformed, from a place where books and magazines were the main draw, to places with computers, genealogical assistance, maker spaces and life-saving warmth and shelter for those most vulnerable in our community.
“Libraries are connectors,” she said, suggesting that her calling is not about the bricks and mortar of the Library, but in serving the community.
McKnight worked as a gift officer for the University of Kansas Hospital as she did her volunteer work on the Johnson County Library boards. She is now taking some of what she learned there to develop a planned giving program for the Library.
“Many people love the Library, and they want to support it, but they don’t have or don’t think they have, much to give right now,” McKnight said. “But how about after they’re gone?”
Many non-profits have planned giving programs to encourage people to make gifts from their estates after their deaths. She said the program at the Topeka public library serves as a good example.
“Their foundation has been very successful in raising planned gifts,” she said. “We can do the same thing. And we need to.”
McKnight said she is astounded when she talks with people in the community who doubt the future of libraries, suggesting they are relics of the past. She acknowledged that many people may never walk in the doors because they can access books online or through an e-commerce site like Amazon. But she said with a staff as dedicated, resourceful and smart as those at the Johnson County Library, the future of the Library here is bright.
“It’s not going away,” she said. “It is too important to our community. Libraires are lifesavers and life enhancers.”
Johnson County Library is supported by a dedicated network of volunteers, including our Board of Directors, the Friends of Johnson County Library, who promote community awareness and participation in library services, and the Johnson County Library Foundation, which supports the Library above and beyond what public funding provides. Learn more about how you can Help, Join, and Give at jocolibrary.org/support/development.
