Downtown Library Capital Campaign
A New Chapter for Downtown
Creating a New Downtown Library Where Anchorage Can Learn, Connect, and Discover
After more than two decades of vision, advocacy, and persistence, the Downtown Library is finally becoming real.
Today, that vision is taking shape in Historic City Hall. The project is largely funded and expected to open next year. Now, Anchorage has an opportunity to build on the investment already in place and help prepare the library to welcome the community.
The campaign is building momentum
Build on the Investment Already in Place
63.6% committed toward the campaign goal
Campaign Video
See the vision take shape.
See how decades of community commitment are bringing library services back to downtown Anchorage and how you can help finish the chapter.
If the video does not appear here, watch the campaign video on YouTube.
Momentum is building
Your support can build on the momentum.
Significant early support includes a $150,000 grant from the Atwood Foundation and $200,000 from the Friends of the Library.
25+ Years in the Making
A vision carried across generations.
Anchorage once had a library downtown, but those services left the area decades ago. The effort to bring them back continued through generations of advocates, partners, and supporters who believed Anchorage should once again have library services in the center of the city.
Janet and John Goetz were among those who held firmly to that belief. After moving to Anchorage in the 1940s, they made downtown their home. Janet was a lifelong library supporter who quietly gave to the Anchorage Library Foundation and ultimately structured her legacy to help ensure a library would return to Anchorage’s Original Townsite.
Today, the Janet Cameron Goetz Trust continues to carry that vision forward by providing long-term operational funding for the Downtown Library.
Why This Location?
Library access in the heart of the city.
The new Downtown Library will extend the Anchorage Public Library system into the city center, making books, technology, information, holds pickup and other library resources more convenient for people who live, work and visit downtown.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Historic City Hall is being adapted for its new use while preserving the character that has defined it for generations. The building will once again serve the public, connecting Anchorage’s history with a new chapter of library access.
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Anchorage’s Original Townsite
What Your Support Makes Possible
Build on the investment already in place.
Campaign support will build on the investment already in place, helping fund collections (books), furnishings, technology, equipment, eligible construction costs, and other resources that will help complete and activate the library.
Fill the Shelves
Books, materials, collections and resources for the community to discover and use.
Create Welcoming Spaces
Furnishings for spaces where people can read, learn, work and connect.
Connect People to Technology
Technology and equipment that expand access to information and library services.
Bring Flexible Spaces to Life
Resources to help build and equip spaces for learning, collaboration and evolving community needs.
Campaign investments may also support eligible construction and other costs associated with completing and activating the library. The Anchorage Library Foundation will steward campaign resources in accordance with donor intent, applicable funding requirements and project needs.
A community effort
Together, We Write the Next Chapter
With $200,000 remaining toward the campaign goal, this is an opportunity to build on what Janet and John Goetz and generations of Anchorage supporters helped make possible and help prepare the library to serve the community for years to come.
Help us finish the chapter by making a gift or pledge before December 31, 2026.
