Chicago City Wire

Library districts are receiving grant funding to help ensure all residents have access to quality resources and programming, Illinois Secretary of State and State Librarian Alexi Giannoulias announced.

Libraries in the 20th House District, serving over 36,000 people, are receiving a combined $53,561 in grants.

“Libraries throughout the state must have the resources and financial support they need to provide high-quality materials and programming to Illinois residents,” Giannoulias said. “Libraries serve as centers for lifelong learning and are critical to providing opportunities for children and adults to enrich their lives.”

“Reading and literacy are foundational to future success,” said State Representative Brad Stephens (20th District—Rosemont). “Libraries are great tools to promote a lifelong passion for reading and improve our children’s ability to understand the world around them.”

The grants, awarded throughout Illinois, included annual per capita and equalization aid grant funding, public library construction grants, and one-time newly created technology grants to help libraries most in need upgrade their technology infrastructure.

Eisenhower Public Library District (Harwood Heights) will receive $36,174 while Schiller Park Public Library will receive $17,387.

Public Library Per Capita Grants are awarded annually to support local public library services. This year, public libraries received just under $1.50 per person in their service area. Public libraries can use this funding for operational needs, including purchasing materials for their library collections and capital improvements to their facilities.

Equalization Aid funding is awarded under a statutory formula to provide a minimum level of funding when local funding through taxes is too low to meet the service population’s base needs.

Public Library Construction Grant funding allows libraries to address refurbishing and renovation of existing facilities; assure compliance with accessibility standards; and even build new facilities.

Under the new technology grant initiative, eligible public libraries were determined by reviewing their local tax base in comparison to the population that is served as well as the poverty level of the community.

Libraries have two years to expend the technology grants on items such as adding hardware and software, expanding online collections and e-resources, purchasing digital devices and mobile apps, increasing Wi-Fi capacity and internet accessibility, incorporating patron self-checkouts, ensuring ADA compliance for library websites, and purchasing adaptive technologies that accommodate service needs for persons with disabilities.