History and Maintaining the Library System

The history of the Evanston Public Library System is important (EPL) The South Branch survived the Great Depression and both branches have survived tough economic times. In these times library use goes up.  Mary

The following letter was written by Trish Stieglitz.

Based on some recent conversations and e-mails that I have received I think the branch libraries are in serious jeopardy of being eliminated in the upcoming budget hearings. Do you agree? 
 
These branch libraries have been here longer than most of us have been alive (Main opened in 1871, South Branch opened in 1917, and North Branch opened in 1952). Mary Rosinski forwarded me the attached history of our libraries History of EPL and if you have the time to read it I am sure you will see the historical importance and value such assets create. It is so obvious, hopefully not just to me, that there is a huge intrinsical value to each library and only when they are gone will we feel the real measure of their loss. Somehow we need to determine what the monetary loss to the businesses that co-exist near the libraries will be and weather that has meaning, because they will surely suffer when the new moms, nanny’s, grandparents, etc. decide not to take that walk down Central St. just to get a cup a coffee or a slice of bread. 
 
Maybe some creative thinking about how to minimize the cost during these challenging economical times could be proposed. I am sure residence would be willing to pay a small fee in-lieu of forever losing these facilities. The residence of Evanston pay for a lot of services that they do not directly benefit from, and we value the fact that one day we may need these services and the fact that they exist. That is how we should look at our libraries. They are not just for the north side or the south side, but for future children and residence that will be here when we are not. 
 
I am sure some people look at these facilities and see the bad shape they are in and how neglected they have been throughout the years. It makes it easy to say just close them, but the fact that no capital dollars have been spent to maintain or upgrade these facilities would be very short sighted.   Let’s come up with some creative ideas that would increase the value of these facilities.   Somehow the previous leaders of our city saw the value these libraries provided through the recessions of past decades. 
 
This is surely one line item in the budget that will never be added back once eliminated but will be felt forever by every current and future residence.