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Library Resources

Kansas City, Missouri Public Library

    Kansas City, Missouri Public Library Resources    

  • Shortcut to Kids Offerings of KCPL

  • Shortcut to Teen Offerings of KCPL

  • Branches in Kansas City (MO), Independence, and Sugar Creek: There are many branches of the Kansas City Public Library system. Each offers a diverse range of services, but we have gathered the ones most pertinent to homeschooling families.

  • Free Library Card and No Fines on Late Materials: An educator library card is free and offers access to a wide range of physical and online resources. The Kansas City Public Library system has no fines for late materials for educators.

  • Summer Reading Program: Every year the Kansas City Public Library system offers a summer reading program with prizes.

  • Individual Branches

    • Digital Branch: Offers digital materials to borrow, including eBooks, audiobooks, streaming resources, and online learning

    • Bluford Branch: Offers a large selection of materials, including an outstanding selection of African American literature, as well as a Health and Wellness Center and Family Storytime events

    • Central Branch: Offers a wide variety of events for children and adults as well as the main administrative branch. This is the location of the iconic parking garage with book spines, so you will want to grab a selfie while there.

    • Missouri Valley Special Collections in the Central Branch: Offers an enormous selection of non-circulating materials for local Kansas City history and genealogical research. There is also a huge collection of digital resources, including photographs, oral histories, and more. This also houses the Black Archives of Mid-America Oral History Project.

    • North-East Branch: Offers a large selection of Spanish-language materials for children and adults as well as materials in other languages. This is the home for Refugee and Immigrant Services and Empowerment, including citizenship educational resources. 

    • Plaza Branch: Offers a huge selection of children's books and special children's area. There is also the famous "Good as Gold" book sculpture and a coffee shop as well as community meeting rooms.

    • Ruiz Branch: Offers a large selection of Spanish-language materials as well as bilingual librarians. There is also a seed library and passport services available at this branch.

    • Southeast Branch: Offers a huge selection of African American literature as well as children's folklore materials. There is also a free Kids' Café, which provides meals for all children ages 1 - 18 from 3:30 - 4:30. This is also the home branch for the KC Digital Media Lab, which offers hands-on tech tools for children 10 - 18.

    • Sugar Creek Branch: Offers a small storefront library branch that also includes passport services.

    • Trails West Branch: Offers a good selection of materials as well as a large community meeting room. Passport services are also available at this branch.

    • Waldo Branch: Offers a community meeting space with study spots for children and adults. They also offer a free Kids' Café with meals for children ages 1 - 18.

    • Westport Branch: Offers a large selection of children's books as well as meeting space. 

  • Services for Educators: These are special services that help educators, including homeschooling families, to receive extra help in finding resources and planning field trips to certain library branches.​

Mid-Continent Public Library

    Mid-Continent Public Library Resources    

Johnson County Public Library

    Johnson County Public Library Resources    

  • Branches throughout Johnson County on the Kansas side. This is a large library system that offers library services to people from all over the metro area.

  • Free Library Card: Johnson County residents can receive an eCard or a traditional card. Even if you are not a Johnson County resident, you are eligible for a traditional card. 

  • Summer Reading Program: Each summer, there is a themed summer reading program. This year, the library branches will pass out free books to each member of the family through the month of June. There will also be stickers, bookmarks, and reading logs at each branch.

  • Individual Branches

    • Antioch Branch in Mission: Offers a drive up window, large meeting room, and small study rooms.​ There is also a bookstore run by the Friends of the Library program.

    • Blue Valley Branch in Overland Park: Offers a drive up window, large meeting room, small study rooms, and a typewriter. 

    • Cedar Roe Branch in Roeland Park: Offers a small community room for up to 30 people.

    • Central Resource Branch in Overland Park: Offers a drive up window, large children's area, large community room for up to 150 people, a smaller community room for up to 24 people, smaller study rooms for 2 - 5 people, and conference rooms for 8 - 18 people. Additionally, this is the branch that houses the MakerSpace, where people can reserve equipment for 3D printing, CNC cutting, laser cutting, vinyl cutting, and sewing. There are also circulating maker kits available as well.

    • Corinth Library in Prairie Village: Offers smaller meeting and study rooms.  

    • De Soto Branch in De Soto: Offers computers and photocopiers that can print in both color and black and white.

    • Edgerton Branch in Edgerton: Offers a small meeting room for up to 12 people.

    • Gardner Branch in Gardner: Offers a small meeting room for up to 50 people as well as two small study rooms for up to 7 people.

    • Leawood Pioneer Branch in Leawood: Offers an ADA accessible computer, meeting room for up to 50 people, study rooms for up to 6 people, and conference rooms for up to 16 people.

    • Lenexa City Center Branch in Lenexa: Offers a drive up window, a holds lobby with extended hours with a library card, self checkout stations, large children's area, a community meeting room for up to 36 people, conference rooms for up to 12 people, and study rooms for up to 5 people.

    • Monticello Branch in Shawnee: Offers a drive up window, rooftop terrance for outdoor access, children's area with a storytime room, a children's story walk outside, large meeting room for up to 100 people, conference rooms for up to 12 people, and study rooms that can accommodate either 4 or 6 people. This branch also has access to iMac computers with the Adobe Suite available on them, including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and more.

    • Oak Park Branch in Overland Park: Offers several meeting room options, including rooms for up to 60 people, up to 20 people, and up to 12 people.

    • Shawnee Branch in Shawnee: Offers a meeting room for up to 40 people and a study room for up to 3 people.

    • Spring Hill Branch in Spring Hill:  Offers computers, black and white printing, and color printing.

Kansas City, Kansas Public Library

    Kansas City, Kansas Public Library Resources    

  • Branches throughout the Kansas City, Kansas area: Although this is a smaller library system, it offers unique and wonderful programs.

  • Summer Reading Programs: There are themed summer reading programs for children, teens, and adults every summer.

  • Room Reservations: Several branches include meeting rooms, and the list for all of the rooms is linked here.

  • Individual Branches (all in Kansas City, Kansas)

    • F. L. Schlagle Library and Environmental Learning Center: Offers special nature-inspired programming, excellent program guides for students in elementary and secondary levels, and collections focused on natural science. There are also animals living in the library and natural  materials for exploration. Each March, the sign-ups for the outdoor summer camp experience opens up and fills up quickly. This branch is also located on the west side of  Wyandotte County ​Lake Park, so there are hiking opportunities nearby.

    • Main Branch: Offers a children's area, meeting space, computer lab, and the Kansas Collection, a collection that focuses on the history of Kansas and Wyandotte County. Archival material requires an appointment, but there are also some online resources available.

    • South Branch: Offers a collection of specialty cake pans that can be used to bake different types of cakes as well as meeting space.

    • Turner Branch: Housed in the Turner Recreation Commission Community Center. This branch offers a small computer lab as well as an outdoor playground.

    • West Wyandotte Branch: Offers a a special collection focused on the fine arts, a meeting room, and family restroom on the first floor. 

    • Mobile Libraries: Offers bus-based mobile library programs and collections. Here is the schedule for the mobile library stops.

    • Little Free Library Outreach Projects: Offers free books that have recently been weeded from the library's collections. These are available for anyone to take home.

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