Like all Libraries, the Boulder Public Library began with books. But it’s evolved into so much more—a space that inspires creativity, empowers innovation, and encourages life-long learning.
Our Library is continually reinventing itself to best meet our community’s needs, and Boulderites clearly love it:

• 96% of households have a Boulder Public Library card—that’s 55% growth over the past decade.
• More than 1 million people visit our Library every year, and in the past 10 years, there has been a 33% increase in program participation.
• Library patrons check out more than 1.5 million items every year—an increase of 32% in the past 10 years.
• Last year, more than 12,000 new members signed up for Library cards, and volunteers contributed more than 18,000 hours of their time to Library programs.

Our Library is the cornerstone of our community. And programs are the cornerstone of our Library. By funding programs like BLDG 61 Makerspace, Lego Story Club, and Computer Science Education Week, the Boulder Library Foundation is working to ensure our Library’s remarkable work continues far into the future.

The Boulder Library Foundation commits to supporting a community of lifetime learning and participation where all people have a sense of belonging. We continue to grow strong as a community thanks to all the races, ethnicities, languages, nationalities, religions, ages, genetic dispositions, neurodiversity, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, economic and housing statuses, veteran status, backgrounds and ideas that enrich our city and our library system.

In the summer of 2022, the Boulder Library Foundation board and staff embarked on a process designed to develop and adopt a three-year strategic plan. To undertake an extensive, inclusive and thoughtful process, the Foundation engaged a third-party consultant – Jennie Arborgash Consulting. Read the Executive Summary here.