Community Corner

Evanston Public Library Extends Services to West Evanston

The Evanston Public Library staff has extended west to Evanston's Robert Crown Center. The location will be open three days per week, and it will cater to west-side Evanston residents and much of Evanston's Latino population through mid-August.

Six months after the Evanston Public Library took over the Mighty Twig location in south Evanston, the library is extending its services to west Evanston.

The library staff extended their services to the Robert Crown Center starting Monday, June 17, and will continue on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays through mid-August.  

"This expansion of services is vital in staying connected with patrons on the south and west ends of the city, as well as providing an additional access center for our growing Latino community, " EPL director Karen Danczak Lyons said in a press release issued June 13.

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Lyons told Patch that she hopes to connect to families throughout Evanston by building an identity at Robert Crown Center and fostering an audience and patron base of all ages as the library re-deploys some of its resources and services to the Robert Crown Center. 

Asked about the future of the mobile library, Lyons said she hoped the partnership would be long lasting, but according to Latin outreach librarian Daylily Alvarez, the continuation of the program is dependent on available space in Robert Crown Center.

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Robert Crown Center seemed to be a great place to grow the library community because of its current popularity among Evanston families.

“I wanted to try bringing the program to where children and parents are already gathering,” Lyons said.

Alvarez is optimistic about the library’s expanding services as well.

“We realized that geography is a barrier to library services,” Alvarez said.

“You can take a pop-up approach and hope people show up, or do what we do with a guerrilla approach,” children's outreach librarian Rick Kinnebrew said of the library’s choice to expand to the Robert Crown Center.

According to Alvarez, there will be at least one Spanish-speaking staff member at Robert Crown Center during the library’s service hours.

“I hope there will be more awareness of the services we provide to the Spanish-speaking population,” Alvarez said. “I want people to know that we [EPL] have come out to the community.”

Children and adults will be able to participate in the library’s Summer Reading Program, sign up for library cards and receive information on other library services and programs.

They will also be able to borrow books that library staff brings to Robert Crown Center, which patrons can then return to Robert Crown Center or the main library. 

Kinnebrew brought books for children to start their summer reading on Monday, and he said the Summer Reading Program was “mobbed” with kids signing up.

Community engagement librarian Jill Skwerski also noted a positive reaction to the “mobile library” so far. “The kids love the summer reading game. It’s always a big hit there [at Robert Crown Center],” she said.

Skwerski said she hopes the library’s presence at Robert Crown Center will increase adults’ and teens’ responses to library services as well. 


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