The mission of the St. Thomas More Church Library is to encourage the spiritual and intellectual growth of our parishioners by providing up-to-date religious and spiritual literature for all ages.
The St. Thomas More Church Library contains over 3,000 items in a variety of formats.
The St. Thomas More Library is located in the south west corner of the Utopia Room of the St. Thomas More Commons.
Library Liaison: Rose Marie Harris
Library Hours:
- Coffee and Donuts Sunday
- K of C Breakfast Sunday
- Tuesdays from 1:00-3:00 p.m.
- By appointment
Library History
The St. Thomas More Church Library was established in 1983 by volunteers from the Thomas More Ladies Group. They met for the first time on February 23, 1983. During this meeting the ladies developed a mission statement and selection policy. Materials for the library were acquired through donation, temporary loan, and monetary gifts. May 8, 1983, a Church Bulletin announcement informed parishioners that a library to be placed in the basement of the Parish Center was being organized. Lucy Wilde, our first librarian, cataloged books based on the Dewey Decimal system and members of the Library Committee typed catalog cards. Catalog cards were filed in shoe boxes until 1995, when a wooden card catalog was received. After a sufficient number of books were processed and shelved on bookcases custom made by Mr. William Mathewson, the library opened in a CCD class room (most likely room 104) after Mass on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. The first books were checked out on September 12, 1983, at a Thomas More Ladies meeting. The Library views this as its anniversary date and celebrated its silver jubilee in 2008.
Church Archives
The St. Thomas More Church Archives was dedicated October 26, 2008.
It is located in the basement in room 104 of the Werth Office Complex. The Archives is open by appointment. Phone: 785-776-5151, ext. 230 for an appointment.
Archives Liaisons: Pat Gaschler & Vicky Hammerschmidt
Our commitment:
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develop and implement policies and procedures to collect, preserve, and store church records
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store selected records in archival supplies
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reformat to preserve selected groups of records in danger of being lost
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save essential church history by collecting lost records and oral history
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prepare descriptions of the holdings
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determine methods of disseminating holdings to potential users
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provide access to on-site users
