Nearly 50 libraries in the south and southwestern suburbs will receive more than $1.3 million in state funding as part of an annual grant program awarding more than 600 public libraries across Illinois $20 million.
The Orland Park and Oak Lawn public libraries will receive the largest grant, at just over $86,000 each. Orland Park Public Library Director Mary Adamowski said the library plans to use the money to expand its collection of books and materials.
“We have a patron-driven collection, which means we purchase the materials that the community requests and materials that will help us fulfill holds faster,” Adamowski said. “These include fiction and nonfiction materials in both print and digital formats.”
Following closely behind the top grant recipients, the Tinley Park Public Library will receive almost $83,000, which Director Zach Musil said will go toward purchasing books, movies, music, ebooks and other materials.
That includes a memory care collection to provide resources for community members with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers.
Musil said it’s crucial libraries receive this funding every year.
“If we don’t receive that fundamental funding, it cuts into how much we’re able to purchase materials for patrons and for the community,” Musil said.
All other public libraries will receive between $2,000 and $60,000, depending on population size. Libraries will have two years to spend the funds.
Two libraries qualified for matching grants for construction projects. Frankfort Public Library Director Amanda Kowalcze said they will use the $83,200 grant to help fund a large maintenance project. She said water leaks into the building during high rainfall, due to landscaping and building materials, and the project aims to fix the issue.
“It disrupts usage because we need to clear out the area and set up air movers and fans, and so it’s definitely something that has been a longtime struggle,” Kowalcze said. “We’re all excited we don’t have to worry about it going forward.”
Yet the funding for new technology in the south suburban libraries dwindled this year. Four Southland libraries qualified to receive technology grants, of either $12,500 or $27,500 depending on population size, compared to more than a dozen libraries that qualified for the same grant last year.
The Richton Park Public Library received $27,500 in grants for technology resources while public libraries in Flossmoor, Posen and Thornton received $12,500.
Last year, the Blue Island Library received a technology grant of $27,500, which Director Anna Wassenaar said funded the purchase of more than two dozen computers, along with computers for staff and a license to use Microsoft programs. Wassenaar said several of the computers were purchased in 2013.
“We’re able to run programs much faster,” Wassenaar said. “We have updated software that the older computers couldn’t run. Our older computers were sometimes glitchy and trashy because they were older, and modern software didn’t want to run on them, so it did make it harder to serve the public as quickly and efficiently as we would like to.”
Libraries are only eligible to use the funding if they adopt the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights that states the library will not censor or remove materials, as part of the state’s 2023 effort to prevent book banning. Several libraries in downstate districts have given up small grants under $4,000 to keep independence in making decisions on books.
Illinois Deputy Secretary of State Scott Burnham said Thursday all 639 libraries receiving grants this year provided compliance with the association’s standards on book banning.
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who is the state librarian, mentioned the Trump administration’s executive action signed in March that ordered the elimination and defunding of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which Giannoulias said issues nearly $6 million annually to Illinois.
“We’re doing things differently in Illinois,” Giannoulias said in a statement. “Instead of cutting funding that would limit learning and prove harmful to Illinois communities, we’re fighting for Illinoisans to ensure they have the funding and resources to learn, grow and explore today and in the future.”
Wassenaar said she is still concerned about the future of federal library funding.
“Some of these grants did run through federal funding that came into the state library and then the state library would distribute, so I’m concerned that those grants might not be continued,” she said.