Thursday, November 10, 2011
The Evanston Public Library will likely not transition to an autonomous library fund model until 2013, but an agreement with the city will still provide the library board with increased control.
More than a year after the Evanston Public Library Board of Trustees voted to adopt a library fund model to become an autonomous governing body rather than an advisory group, the board endorsed a tentative agreement with the City of Evanston that would keep the library as part of the city until 2013. As recently as two weeks back, the library board planned to switch to the new governance model at the end of 2011. But at the board’s Wednesday night meeting, Evanston City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz proposed an agreement between the two sides that would instead gradually transfer some governing authority to the library board over the course of the next six months. Bobkiewicz said the move was preferable to the board’s original plan because an …
42.048325
-87.680766
Evanston Public Library
1703 Orrington Ave, Evanston, IL
/articles/library-likely-to-delay-shift-to-autonomy-through-agreement-with-city
261757
/locations/5779336
Friday, October 28, 2011
Evanston's south-side storefront library, The Mighty Twig, reported a handful of statistics to tell the their "story of success."
The Evanston Public Library Friend’s experimental storefront library dubbed The Mighty Twig, 900 Chicago Ave., opened just over seven months ago, on March 26. In the Friend’s October newsletter, the group listed statistics that they say “tell The Mighty Twig’s story of success.” According to the Friend’s, through six months the Twig has had 18,017 visitors, 3,481 computer users, 2,591 toddlers at story time, 241 Summer Reading Game players, 509 children check out 6,062 books and a total of 15,297 free books distributed across Evanston. The storefront library was created to fill the void left when the Evanston Public Library’s South Branch closed last February, and is located less than a block south of the previous branch location. Though …
42.03394
-87.679379
The Mighty Twig
900 Chicago Ave, Evanston, IL
/articles/mighty-twig-library-reports-18-000-visitors-in-six-months
1989097
/locations/5687669
Thursday, October 27, 2011
The Evanston Public Library Board will have to either amend its adopted 2012 budget or renegotiate with the city after the City of Evanston's budget revealed it expected $75,800 in North Branch rent from the library.
The Evanston Public Library Board of Trustees will likely have to amend the 2012 library budget passed at last month’s meeting after discovering that the city intends to charge the library rent for the use of the city-owned North Branch building, 2026 Central Street. The City of Evanston’s proposed 2012 budget, released Oct. 8, includes $75,800 in expected revenue from renting out the North Branch space to the library. In past years, the library has not paid for use of the North Branch space. Though the city also owns the Main Branch library space, there is currently no indication that the city intends to charge the library for the use of that space, as well. At Wednesday night’s board meeting, Paul Gottschalk, administrative service …
42.048325
-87.680766
Evanston Public Library
1703 Orrington Ave, Evanston, IL
/articles/library-board-to-revise-2012-budget-after-unanticipated
261757
/locations/5680491
42.064364
-87.701219
North Branch - Evanston Public Library
2026 Central St, Evanston, IL
/articles/library-board-to-revise-2012-budget-after-unanticipated
1852416
/locations/5680492
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
With budget cuts, Evanston may soon have to say farewell to the South Branch of the Evanston Public Library.
With budget deficits looming, the Evanston Library Board is expected to make cuts in the new calendar year. And given the dire financial situation, the board has indicated that Evanston’s South Branch will be the first to go. The Evanston Public Library Friends is trying to make sure that doesn’t happen. EPL Friends, which was created less than a year ago, has already been successful in its efforts to prevent closures and gain funding for the libraries. The group rallied the community to prevent the closings of both the North and South library branches in 2010. EPL Friends President Ellen Newcomer said she believes it’s crucial to the community to maintain both branches. “Library branches are about neighborhoods, they’re about building…
42.034934
-87.679577
Evanston Public Library - South Branch
949 Chicago Ave, Evanston, IL
/articles/epl-friends-fight-to-save-south-branch-library
1453506
/locations/3106353
Thursday, December 9, 2010
With South Branch set to close and North Branch underfunded, future of Evanston Public Library is unclear.
The future of the Evanston Public Library seemed murkier than ever at the Library Board of Trustees' special budgetary meeting Wednesday night. Assembled in the Main Branch with the task of passing the library's budget for the 2011 fiscal year by night's end, the board was forced to recount and debate the institution's numerous options and woes during a 3 1/2-hour discussion marked with frustration and tough decisions. The central problem? The budget of $3.73 million allowed only $148,893 for "neighborhood services," $21,272 less than required to maintain the current service level at the North Branch, let alone fund a new or interim branch in South or West Evanston. Some board members quickly were resigned to the notion that concession …
42.048325
-87.680766
Evanston Public Library
1703 Orrington Ave, Evanston, IL
/articles/library-board-begrudgingly-passes-2011-budget
261757
/locations/2684235
42.034934
-87.679577
Evanston Public Library - South Branch
949 Chicago Ave, Evanston, IL
/articles/library-board-begrudgingly-passes-2011-budget
1453506
/locations/2684236
cheryl chamberlain
9:28 pm on Sunday, November 6, 2011
Fred, if you take the overall number of 18,017 and divide it by the number of operating days, it averages out to 133.4 people per day -- a very realistic number when you break it down that way. more ›