For the first time in their student careers at The University of Kansas, Patrick Maguire and Brett Marsteller, both Lenexa juniors, walked through the sliding glass doors of the Lawrence Public Library at 707 Vermont St. on Monday night.

The two strolled over to the DVD collection in search of some free entertainment. After going through multiple genres, from drama to foreign films, they headed to the checkout with nine DVDs. Maguire filled out a form for his first ever Lawrence Public Library card, free of charge, while “The Sixth Sense” rested on top of his stack of DVDs.

Maguire said he went to the library because he heard they had a good selection.

Recently the library and two architecture firms — Gould Evans and Associates, and Meyers, Scherer & Rockcastle — produced and released a report summary for the Lawrence Public Library’s expansion plan. The library’s finished expansion date, if passed by the city, will be in 2025.

Bruce Flanders, Library Director, estimated about 60,000 people have library cards and about one-fourth of the local college students, including students from Haskell Indian Nations University, use the library’s services.

According to the library task force, the building currently needs several facility enhancements that would make more information and other benefits, such as DVDs, available to the community and University students. The library’s collection, which includes fiction, nonfiction, periodicals, language learning CDs and DVDs, totals about 25,000 items. The expansion plan would nearly double the collection to about 40,000 items.

On-campus libraries have entertainment DVDs like the ones Maguire and Marsteller checked out, but are limited in their selection. Had the two Lenexa juniors stopped by Watson Library to pick up “The Sixth Sense,” they would have left empty-handed.

Students can get more than just entertainment from the public library though. Several University students also use the reference section of the library, said Jeff Weinberg, assistant to Chancellor Hemenway and library task force member.

Another plan for expansion that University students could benefit from includes an extension to the number of meeting rooms in the library. More than 450 student groups are listed under student organizations on the University Web site. These groups would all be able to use the meeting rooms and other library services of the expansion.

Maggie Bixler, Topeka senior, visits the public library at least once a month and often finds it difficult to get on a computer. It is not unusual to have to wait up to 30 minutes for an available computer she said.

By the time the expansion is completed in 2025, the number of computer workstations will increase from 24 to about 150, providing students with a better opportunity to use the library’s now crowed computer terminals.

The crowded computers aren’t the only part of the library needing space, though. Right now, the Lawrence Public Library has the seventh lowest square feet per capita of the Big 12 cities’ libraries, according to the library’s report summary. Manhattan ranks at the top, having 1.46 square feet per capita, while Lawrence has .65 square feet per capita.

The limited space at the library stems from the fact that the building is the same structure that was built more than 30 years ago. Currently the library covers about 52,000 square feet, but the expansion calls for a 127,000 square foot structure. Additional parking for 240 to 440 cars was also proposed.

This estimated cost for the new library structure and parking garage totals about $53 million. The construction of the library, not including the parking garage, additional parking or library furnishings, is an estimated $35 million of the total. But no set costs have been made, and Flanders said he thought the library could be built using under $30 million if necessary.

To pay for the project a bond and private investors are being looked into. The private investors include people who either own the property options for the new location or can easily acquire it, Flanders said. Discussions of exactly where the funds will come from are still under way.

Four different locations for the library are currently being considered. All centered around downtown Lawrence, the four locations include: the six hundred block of Vermont street, the eight hundred block of New Hampshire street, the nine hundred block of New Hampshire street, and the Riverfront Mall at Sixth and New Hampshire streets. The ultimate decision on the location will not be up to the library though.

“We feel it’s best for the city to decide where the library will be and what developer to go with,” Flanders said.

The new library will span two to three-and-a-half stories and will depend on the decided location. The size of the parking garage depends on the property used for construction as well.

— Edited by James Foley