IMLS Grant Advance Saves Illinois Town’s Only Library
The south suburban Chicago town of Robbins will continue to enjoy uninterrupted public library service thanks to the infusion of $25,500 in emergency grant funding it was promised just days before a lack of revenue would have closed its doors as of September 1. The August 20 reprieve came two days after some 50 area residents joined Robbins Mayor Irene H. Brodie for a press conference, held at the William Leonard Public Library District, at which town officials and library patrons pleaded for donations to keep the library open until year’s end.
A town whose average household income is $24,000, Robbins was already struggling with dwindling property-tax collections—the Chicago Southtown Star reported August 19 that 9% more property owners had defaulted on their taxes in 2008 than in 2007—when the Illinois State Library notified the state’s nine multitype regional library systems August 12 to anticipate a 16% cut in state aid for FY2009. Multitype officials warned member libraries they would shortly be reexamining budget priorities, but the bottom line for Leonard Library Administrator Priscilla Coatney was having enough money to operate at all.
“Last year, I laid myself off for five weeks to keep this place running,” she admitted, telling the Star that the town has “a lot of poor senior citizens who just can’t afford to pay their taxes [as well as] other people who have been victims of the economy, just like anyplace else.” Some $295,000 of the library’s $360,000 annual budget comes from property taxes; Coatney’s salary is $35,000 a year.
Among those attending the press conference was 8-year-old Shawna Lewis, who told ABC affiliate WLS-TV the jist of what area children had written to Pres. Barack Obama: “Please help us. I read and write and use the computer here every day. This is an emergency. I know you are very busy, but please don’t let our library in Robbins, Illinois, close. Bail us out.”
Coatney learned of the reprieve from her multitype, whose staff worked with Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.) to release the library’s IMLS funding ahead of schedule: $10,000 by the end of August, another $10,000 in September, and $5,500 in October as a stopgap until Robbins officials receive property-tax payments collected by the county. In an August 20 statement, Rush said that the local outcry underscores Leonard Library’s importance as “the life blood of the community.” However, Coatney told the Star August 21, the funds will be insufficient to pay her salary for the time being.
August 24 UPDATE: Other library supporters are offering help as well. After reading about the Robbins library’s plight in the Sun-Times, the board of the north suburban Skokie Public Library held a special session August 21 so they could vote to donate at least three months’ worth of used-book-sales proceeds to the Robbins library. Additionally, Coatney is organizing a late-afternoon fundraiser for August 29.
—Beverly Goldberg, American Libraries Online
Posted on August 21, 2009; updated August 24, 2009; corrected September 9, 2009.