A new library was reorganized the year following out of the house of J. S. Boughton and monies were quickly raised for the construction of a new building.

The city took over control of the library in September 1871 and moved it into the Lawrence National Bank building where it occupied three rooms on the second floor.

With 6,000 volumes there was not enough room to store all the books, and the $1 per year charge per resident was not ample enough to provide funding for a new building.

Carnegie agreed to the request and donated $27,500 on the stipulation the city of Lawrence transform it into a free public library and dedicate $2,750 each year to its upkeep and maintenance.

[6] By 1936 40% of the city's population had a library card, and in the following year the building saw a renovation to increase the size of its storage stacks.

[2][7] Due to increasing space constraints in the Carnegie Library a proposal was made to allocate funds to construct a new building.

[1] On November 10, 2010 an $18 million budget was proposed by the Library Board of Trustees on the grounds that since its construction in 1972 the population served had more than doubled.