At least that’s what officials at Basehor Community Library believe. So they’ve organized a contest for area children to help raise money for the library’s building fund.

Children, 14 and younger, are asked to bring pennies to the library during the two months between Thursday and July 31. The child who raises the most money will be awarded a $100 Wal-Mart gift certificate on Aug. 5.

Even though exact plans for a new library building are not set, director Carla Kaiser said the penny drive is an opportunity to get the word out about the library’s proposal.

“We don’t know where it’s going to go,” Kaiser said of the building that will replace the library’s existing building at 2812 N. 155th Street.

“This contest is going to help us create awareness that we are, indeed, going to build a new library and make a contribution to our building fund.”

Growth is not new to the library, said Kaiser, who’s been director since 1985.

“We started in one-quarter of the space, and have expanded twice,” she said. “We took over the entire building last time, in 1991. We’ve been growing within the building, but now we’re as far as we can go in this building.

“We really are looking to build something new and something on one level, and something probably more toward the highway. That way people can zip off the highway and go to the bank, go to the grocery store and stop by the library.”