Nicole Kidman supports Nashville Public Library

Editor's Note: This story was originally published on June 10, 2014.

The Nashville Public Library wants to raise $2 million in the next year from its everyday patrons.

And backing will come in a big way from actress Nicole Kidman — a superstar Nashvillian who also happens to be one of those regular library-goers, someone who checks out books with her two daughters and attends storytime events and puppet shows.

"I love libraries, in general, and I particularly like the Nashville library," Kidman said in a recent interview with another notable local, author Ann Patchett.

They spoke together on camera to publicize the fundraising campaign.

"It's a place where I can bring the kids. It's a place I can study. It's a place where I can come with them to see a great puppet show," Kidman said. "It's a community hangout — with a meaning."

More:Kidman: Nashville kind, 'a place of peace'

Related:Nashville libraries encourage people to grow food

All told, the Nashville Public Library Foundation, which is a separate nonprofit that bolsters the city-funded library, plans to raise $15 million as part of the "Write the Next Chapter" campaign.

Already, about $13 million has been pledged, mostly from high-dollar donors. Kidman's star power and the backing of Mayor Karl Dean are part of a final push for donations of all sizes to raise the remaining $2 million.

Reaching beyond library walls

Each year, the foundation's gifts help cover about 10 percent of the library's operating budget. That enhances programs, adds to the collection and helps launch initiatives that might not otherwise make the cut for city money.

Kidman supports the library's traditional role with books, and also its modern approaches to fostering literacy and learning through classes and events that bring people together.

"I believe people like to be around other people," Kidman said. "I believe people still want to know there is a community and there is a place you can go where you can ask someone — a librarian — for references, for help."

It's many of those nontraditional efforts, now central to the role of the library, that the foundation funded at the start, and which last year reached more than 122,000 kids and teens.

Bringing Books to Life, for example, trains hundreds of preschool teachers and even more parents on the best ways to prepare children to read.

More than 100,000 people saw storytime and puppet shows, in the library and on the traveling puppet truck.

"We get to people who otherwise might not go to the library," said Elyse Adler, the library's community engagement director. "We have had the opportunity to get out into the community."

City dollars still cover the bulk of construction, building maintenance, staffing and books. But when the city cut back funding for new materials for a few years, the foundation swooped in there as well.

'The library is yours'

Working with an A-list celebrity like Kidman isn't the only unprecedented part of the campaign. The $15 million goal dwarfs prior efforts. And fundraisers haven't usually courted small gifts from everyday library patrons.

"If your capacity is you can put one book on the shelf, I want you to feel really great about that," said foundation President Tari Hughes.

Library officials also want to make gains in how many Davidson County residents have library cards. Right now, fewer than half of residents have one. The goal is 70 percent.

Kidman told Patchett she had her first library card by age 5. Her daughters — 3 and 5 — have theirs, too.

She said her early love of reading led her into acting. At libraries, she gravitates toward poetry, which she often reads aloud with husband Keith Urban.

"I read because it relaxes me, and I read because I get lost in that place," she said. "I read for inspiration, and I read for protection, and I read for spiritual growth."

It's that genuine love of literature that inspired the library foundation to connect with Kidman, Hughes said.

"To know that this is a family that really, truly brings their children to storytime, I think that enriches people's perceptions," she said.

While the foundation wants that message to resonate broadly this year, Kidman told Patchett that instilling a love of the library also matters on a small scale, in how she leads her daughters to share in that interest.

"I just want them to be curious," Kidman said. "I want them to feel they can always have access to an education, they can always have access to knowledge. That that's not only for a particular group of people. Anybody can come and have access to that. And if you can read, then the library is yours."

Reach Tony Gonzalez at 615-259-8089 and on Twitter @tgonzalez.

How to donate

To learn how to donate to the Nashville Public Library Foundation's "Write the Next Chapter" campaign, call 615-880-2613, email admin@nplf.org or give online at www.nplf.org.

If you go

Robin Roberts, anchor of "Good Morning America," will speak about her memoir, "Everybody's Got Something," as part of the Salon @ 615 author series.

» When: 5:45 p.m. Friday

» Where: Nashville Public Library, 615 Church St.

» Tickets: Free and required. Advance tickets are available with a $2.50 fee at www.salonat615.org, and limited tickets will be available 30 minutes before the 6:15 p.m. talk.