Lawson McGhee Library, the flagship of the Knox County Public Library system, is run-down, overcrowded with both patrons and books, and wholly inadequate to meet the 21st century needs of the third largest county in Tennessee.

It’s time to launch an effort to build a new central library, one worthy of the aspirations of our community.

Can Knox County taxpayers afford the estimated $45 million (give or take a million) price tag? Not without the help of local philanthropists who understand the value a library brings to a community. They could do worse than follow in Col. Charles McClung McGhee’s large footsteps.

It was McGhee, one of Knoxville’s wealthiest citizens, who gave the city its first Lawson McGhee library as a memorial to his deceased daughter. The first Lawson McGhee Library opened its doors on October 28, 1886, in what is now known as the Rebori Building on Gay Street.

Built in 1971, the current Lawson McGhee building on Church Avenue no longer can house the library’s collection of materials or host the library’s special events.

Usage is on the increase, despite the growing use of the Internet, but capacity is dwindling. Books are stacked on floors throughout the building – if they haven’t been sent to storage, that is. Employees are crammed into offices. Patrons often must sit on the floor to read or wait to use computers. The need is obvious.

Library officials have been working with the East Tennessee Community Design Center to develop plans for a building with nearly twice the current space. They’re considering three locations, none of them ideal but any of them better than what we now have.

There’s no money for a new library, however, and little stomach among county officials to go $45 million further into debt to pay for construction. A dedicated property tax increase, even one limited by a sunset provision, isn’t a realistic option.

That’s where Knox County’s philanthropists – be they individuals, corporations or foundations – can help. There is a long tradition of philanthropic support for libraries. In addition to Knoxville’s McGhee, industrialist Andrew Carnegie famously funded libraries all across the country. For years during segregation, a Carnegie library served Knoxville’s black community. Carnegie libraries are still in use in Harriman and Etowah, Tenn.

The Knox County Public Library could use modern-day McGhees and Carnegies, people who grasp the idea that a library is more than a book repository; a library also is a chapel of democracy where rich and poor, young and old, the learned and the curious can gather in one place. Our community is blessed with such people.

The recession has drained resources away from nearly everyone and money available for charitable giving, no matter how noble the cause, is tight. Just like tax dollars.

If we truly value education and lifelong learning, however, we should find a way to fund a new central library that will be a reflection of our community’s ideals and a symbol of our hopes for the future.