The Evanston City Council voted 7-2 on Monday to allow the city’s branch libraries to remain open at least until February.

The vote came in response to the Evanston Public Library Friends raising $171,000 to cover the six months of operating costs past the August date the city planned to cancel the lease for the South Branch Library, located at 949 Chicago Ave. The city owns the building which houses the North Branch.

“We were very pleased,” said Lori Keenan, vice president of Evanston Public Library Friends. “We didn’t know that there would even be another vote.”

The city decided to cut funding for the branch libraries in order to close their $9.5 million budget.

While critics worry about taxes increasing to support branch libraries which not all city residents have in their area of town, Keenan said the branches serve an important function. The two wards that house the branches are the only without community centers.

Last Monday, Illinois State Senator Jeff Schoenberg and Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl held a press conference to announce a city-state partnership plan to possibly save the branch libraries.

The plan involves merging the South Branch with the state’s Evanston workNet Center, located on Oak Street.

Keenan said the library board and perhaps someone from EPLF should work with the city to explore such possibilities. Now that EPLF has secured funding to allow the library to remain open for an additional six months, the group can concentrate on finding sustainable funding solutions, she said.

“I don’t know that we’ve found the solution or if that is the answer per se,” Keenan said. “But I think it shows good thinking and some creativity.”

– Jessica Allen