Lawrence Public Library installs pay phone in effort to ‘not leave people behind’

It’s not an announcement many would expect to see in 2019, but the Lawrence Public Library hopes the addition of a pay phone will help those who may need it.

On Monday, the library announced that it had installed a brand new pay phone within its walls to allow people to make calls whenever they need to. While the announcement received several “LOLs” and jokes on the library’s Facebook page, library director Brad Allen said the purpose of the phone is to fill a need that many people may not realize exists.

“Public libraries are in a place where we have to figure out how to anticipate new trends, and we also have to hang on a lot longer to trends that are fading away,” Allen said. “A lot of people who have the most barriers to access also don’t have the most modern, newest things. It’s important to not leave people behind.”