Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

46° Evanston, IL
Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

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Branch library supporters face August fundraising deadline

Evanston residents are banding together to raise funds in the next few months to keep the city’s branch libraries afloat.

The Evanston City Council initially voted to cut funding for the north and south branch libraries during budget workshops this winter to help close a $9.5 million budget deficit. Before passing the final budget, the aldermen decided to give branch supporters until Aug. 31 to raise $160,000, the amount needed to fund the branches through March.

Ald. Coleen Burrus (9th), who consistently voted to remove funding to the libraries, said although supporters have to raise only $160,000 by the end of August, finding a sustainable funding method over the years will be much harder.

“They need to prove that they can come up with a half a million dollars every year going forward,” Burrus said. “They need to show how they’re going to do that. That has not happened at this point.”

Former Third Ward alderman Emily Guthrie, an organizer in the fundraising group Evanston Public Library Friends, said the branch libraries are important to local businesses.

“People tend to walk and make several stops along the street when they’re going to the library,” Guthrie said. “The merchants were not at all happy at the prospect of losing the branches.”

To comply with the city’s new fiscal budget, the branch libraries have cut back their operating hours. They are now open only four days a week.

At EPLF’s meeting last Wednesday, nearly 100 people showed up to help brainstorm fundraising ideas, Guthrie said.

Among the organization’s ideas is to create lemonade stand kits for Evanston kids to raise money. Other ideas include book sales, hosting slam poetry contests and putting on concerts. Guthrie said famous Evanston novelists such as Joseph Epstein and Audrey Niffenegger, who wrote the “Time Traveler’s Wife,” also want to offer their services in live readings and book signings.

Connie Heneghan, branch manager of the Evanston Public Libraries, said although library staff may not be fundraising in their spare time, she has faith in the fundraising efforts of the EPLF.

“If (keeping the branches afloat) is possible, this is a group that will get it done because they bring a lot of energy and intelligence and effort to the cause,” Heneghan said.

But Burrus said she doesn’t think funding for the libraries is sustainable through this process. She said supporters would have to find sustainable models for not only the north and south branches but also the west and southwest branches.

“If the branch library people are saying that it is so important to have these branches, then they’ll need to fund them in those critical areas,” Burrus said. “And they’ll have to show how they’re going to do that.”

Guthrie said she and her group are also looking at grants as a method of sustaining the branches over the long-term.

“We can make this work,” she said. “We will at least by ourselves over the years keep the libraries open, and in the meantime, there are other options for us to look at for long-term sustainability.”[email protected]

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Branch library supporters face August fundraising deadline