The Library District project was originally started in 2018 by local community members Scott Converse, publisher of the Longmont Observer newsroom, Mark Springfield, Chairman of the Longmont Library Advisory board, Melissa Davis of the Gates Family Foundation, Vito Montone, Rick Brennon, Sergio Angeles, Macie May and half a dozen others as a way to create a new kind of Library Information District that met the 21st century needs of a technically advanced city like Longmont. This led to the City of Longmont investing in a Library Funding Study to determine what the best way to fund the library was and the group that originally formed to create a library district suspended its operations in mid-2019 until the City of Longmont could get the study finished.

The pandemic slowed down that study, like everything else in life, however, it is nearing its completion, which jump-started our efforts to get our Library District drive started again.

In August of 2021, some members of this now suspended group learned that the City of Boulder was planning on creating a library district that geographically encompassed most of Boulder County, right up to the border of Longmont's city limits. Two of these members, Mark Springfield, still the Chairman of the Library Advisory Board and Scott Converse, now a member of the same Advisory board, along with Prudence Carter, the president of the Friends of the Library group, and a recent addition to the Friends of the Library, Maria Karagianis, decided to get together at the end of September 2021 and consider the potential effort.

The group decided to move forward with creating a robust community-driven effort to investigate, and if it makes sense, get a ballot initiative together to create a new Longmont Library District to be voted on in the 2022 election.

We've just started. If you're interested in being involved, drop us an email at longmontlibrarydistrict@gmail.com and we'll be in touch.