St. Charles Public Library

In 1978, voters approved conversion of the township library to a library district. With the growth of the district population to over 28,000, and a population of 43,000 forecast by 2005, in 1986 the Library Board sought approval of $2,925,000 in building bonds for expansion of the facility. Voters overwhelmingly approved the building bonds and an increase in the Library's operating tax to support the expanded facility. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held on July 31, 1987 for the newest expansion. On December 17, 1988, the 35,000 square foot addition to the Library was opened to the public, exactly 100 years after the establishment of the St. Charles Library Association, and 80 years after the opening of the Carnegie Building. Remodeling of the 1908 and 1964 buildings was completed in 1989, with the former being opened once again to the public to house the business, local history, and genealogy collections.

Much of the furniture now in the "Carnegie Room" is from the original building. This furniture includes a clock donated in memory of Edward Bowman in 1911; six tables; thirteen chairs; shelving and a desk. (A piano from the Cable Piano Company, which was purchased in 1912 for $150, now is housed in the public meeting room.) The original Library walk-in safe was relocated to the hallway between the 1964 and 1908 buildings. A 5,200 square foot mezzanine was built for expansion space for materials and for reading and study areas.

The mezzanine project was completed in 1995 at a cost of $201,196. Funding came from the Library's Special Reserve Fund, as well as a $91,447 Illinois Secretary of State Live and Learn Grant. There was a major relocation of equipment and furniture in the Adult Services department, especially the Reference section. Our intent was to combine activities which require noisy equipment, to define areas of quiet study. All equipment was removed from the Carnegie, and all workstations and microform equipment were grouped in an area east of the Reference desk. In an effort to divert traffic away from the study areas, materials which are heavily used were relocated to areas where traffic already was heavy. After major weeding, back issues of periodicals were moved from the reference area to the nonfiction stacks. This extensive weeding of paper copies was part of our plan to get as many periodicals as possible on microform or through electronic delivery. The very popular videotapes and books on tape were moved to shelving east of adult fiction - close to the high-traffic browsing area. Audiotapes were removed from the sight-blocking towers, and placed with CDs in our old wood card catalogs.