Evanston’s South Branch Library may have life in it yet.

At Wednesday night’s Evanston Library Board of Trustees meeting, the board unanimously voted to accept an undisclosed amount of funding donated by the Evanston Public Library Friends to support an interim South Branch location for the 2011 fiscal year.

The motion passed only two months after the board revealed that the South Branch would close, ending its lease at 949 Chicago Avenue after 76 years at that location. During the board’s December meeting, trustees passed a budget insufficient to maintain current service level at the library’s North Branch, let alone fund a new or provisional branch in South or West Evanston.

Under the new agreement, the Friends will rent and prepare a yet-to-be-determined interim location, lease the space to the library for $1 a year and raise funds for staffing, while using any additional reserves to provide improved neighborhood services, including book outposts in multiple locations and a possible distribution storefront on the city’s west side.

The Friends also presented a second, less preferred, option to set up a south side storefront and book depository run by the Friends, with the goal of integrating library services into that location. However this option was voted down 4-3, with Board President Christopher Stewart casting the deciding “no.”

The Friends' offer was advertised at the meeting as “not contingent or conditional on the continued operation of [the proposed provisional branch] beyond 2011. “ And though the donation comes with “no strings attached,” the board’s motion included a provision to continue working with the City, residents, library staff and the Friends while locating the best possible interim location.

“We’re very pleased that they accepted our offer,” said Ellen Newcomer, Friends' president. “We have raised quite a bit of money, all [individual donations] from Evanston citizens who support branch libraries. It’s out of respect for the patrons of South Branch.”

Such patrons showed up in numbers Wednesday, as the room was packed with over 80 residents, more than double the attendance of December’s meeting.

Fifteen people sounded off during a “citizen comment” portion, begging the board to maintain a South Branch. One woman told of how that library location helped her battle depression, another woman equated librarians to mothers reading to children, and a 5-year-old boy spoke, making a plea that the board not close the library he had been going to “all [his] life,” eliciting tears from more than one meeting official.

Yet an outpouring of citizen emotion coupled with the offer of an “unconditional” donation did not lead to a quick acceptance of the Friends’ offer.

Instead, the meeting dragged on for three and a half hours, fueled by debate and stalled by miscommunication in the board’s parliamentary procedures. Board members chose sides: some in favor of the first option (interim South Branch), others in favor of the second option (storefront book depository), some for a general acceptance of the funds without specification for an option and others for a general rejection of the Friends’ donation.

Trustee Lynette Murphy initially supported the Friends' second option, saying she was worried that a provisional branch would interfere with the board’s long-term planning process.

“We have also embarked on a huge mission to reestablish our vision,” Murphy said. “I think it would be a bit hasty, because we don’t know what we want to look like in five to 10 years. Until we get to that point, I think that any decision we make that transfers us into something that looks permanent would be a mistake.”

Conversely, Trustee Dona Gerson supported more immediate action.

“I think our responsibility as an appointed board is to make decisions,” Gerson said, “and it is difficult to make choices. You can’t be certain that you’re right, and it may not be right. But nonetheless, we have to make a decision."

Only absent Trustee Diane Allen flat out rejected the Friends' donation, reasoning it would dismiss and distract the intent and capacity of the library board to adequately plan for the future.

“A new pressure on the board to act precipitously to act in accordance with the wishes of the Friends, exemplifies what is now obvious; the Friends are not committed to the community at large, but only with their preconceived ideas of what and where they want it,” said Allen, in a letter read by Stewart. “This attitude is a disservice to the community.”

The Friends’ donation at Wednesday’s meeting was not the first time the organization has given the library a helping hand. Last year, the group raised $160,000 to keep the North and South Branch libraries open from September through the end of this coming February, something the branches could not have done without financial assistance.

However, after this year, it is hoped the library will need less outside support. Its new autonomous governing system will likely allow for increased funding, as the library board can levy its own tax rate up to a certain limit, providing additional support for the strapped library budget.

The board will not be able to alter this tax rate until 2012, though, and according to Board President Stewart, there is still a long way to go.

 “Evanston Public Library is rebirthing itself,” Stewart said, “and as we move through this transition to autonomy … we’re doing a lot of business now as a municipal library board with independence, and all of that takes a lot of time, a lot of administrative work that you saw tonight … The agenda is pretty full.”

Currently, the South Branch library is being turned over as it prepares to close. The branch’s book collections will be stored, shipped to the main branch, put towards book depository points around Evanston or given to schools and nonprofit organizations. The South Branch’s last day open will be Saturday, Feb. 26.

The library board’s outreach services committee reported that the owner of Dempster Plaza supported the idea of having a storefront book depository in that location. In a recent letter and press release, though, the Friends wrote that community organizers in the Dempster and Dodge area “suggested that anything less than a full-service library would not be welcomed.”

At Wednesday’s meeting, the board also passed a motion hiring Miriam Pollack and Associates, a Northbrook based consulting firm with a history of working with library systems, as an outside consultant to provide and unbiased assessment of the library’s long term plans.