The Kenai City Council voted Wednesday to accept roughly $28,000 in grant funds for the Kenai Community Library to be used for the purchase of a holds locker and other materials.

The funds are split across two grants and are both awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development’s Division of Libraries, Archives, and Museums, according to a Dec. 6 memo to the city council from Kenai Community Library Director Katja Wolf.

The first award, in the amount of $22,300, will be used to purchase a holds locker for the library. The locker will allow library patrons to pick up reserved materials even if the library is closed and will be located outside the building. The Soldotna Public Library unveiled its own holds locker in January 2021, which was purchased through federal CARES Act funds awarded to the library by the City of Soldotna.

The second award received by the Kenai Community Library is for $6,000, $2,500 of which will be used for the purchase of library materials. The other $3,500 will be used to purchase Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) kit shelving, a Chromebook charging station and programming equipment.

Both grants were approved unanimously. The council’s full Wednesday meeting can be viewed on the city’s YouTube channel.