Branch-Closing Threat Galvanizes Northwestern University’s Neighbors

January 24, 2010

The determination of grassroots activists in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois—home to Northwestern University—has motivated the city council to put off shuttering two beloved public library branches as of March 1, and to agree instead to study the efficacy of creating a third branch in an underserved part of town. “This is an unofficial nod to provide us with more time,” BranchLove.org cofounder Lori Keenan posted January 23. “We hope that we can count on everyone’s continued interest in moving this plan forward.”

Evanston City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz had proposed the branch closures as part of a plan to close a gap of $9 million in the $94 million general municipal fund for FY2010–11—the second time in as many years that city officials had raised the possibility. In reaction to the proposal, which would have saved $425,000, several hundred people held protest rallies January 14 outside the targeted North and South branches.

Among those demonstrating was area resident Lisa Ben-Zeev, who explained in the January 18 Evanston Review how the intimacy of the North branch empowered her son Ari to become an enthusiastic reader. “He never had the courage to talk about books [and] never had the confidence going to the main library because he wouldn’t know the librarians,” she said. “He knows everybody here.” Others spoke of the diminished access mobility-impaired seniors and some 4,000 Evanston students would have to public library service; several schools are within walking distance of the branches but none are located near the downtown main library.

Officials took note of the pushback. “The library board voted January 21 to oppose the city manager’s recommendation to close the branches and established a task force to explore long-term financial solutions,” Keenan told American Libraries. Fiscal options on the table include the establishment of a special library tax district, which is favored by activists, or the creation of a special service assessment. Keenan explained that Branch Love organizers oppose the latter idea, which is usually implemented to pay for infrastructure in a business district. Based on the city manager's estimates, an SSA would increase the library millage on a home near a branch from $22 per $5,000 to $250 per $5,000.

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