At the June 26, 2018, IHLS Board Meeting, Leslie Bednar recognized Mary Beil and Tiffany Droege as retiring board members and also thanked Sandy West for serving as board president for two years. Two new board members will be seated at the July meeting.
Photo (left to right): Sandy West, Leslie Bednar, Mary Beil
We are pleased to announce that Anna Yackle has joined the Illinois Heartland Library System as our new Membership Coordinator. Anna comes to us from the Indian Trails Library where she served as Business and Career Services Liaison. She’s had experience as a public library director as well as many years of service at the North Suburban Library System.
When asked what her hopes were for this position, Anna replied:
Having held a variety of positions in special, academic and public libraries plus another library system, I feel like libraries have become a part of my DNA. This century is a defining time for libraries and I want to help members and their boards stay the vital, beating heart of their communities. To do this I feel it is crucial that we all work together to identify expectations, needs, and resources and build on our shared knowledge to utilize what we currently have and target what we need for the future.
Welcome, Anna!
IHLS is partnering with Girls Who Code, the national non-profit dedicated to closing the gender gap in the tech industry, is looking for community partners this coming school year to launch Girls Who Code Clubs across the communities in the IHLS service area. Clubs are FREE after-school programs for 3-5th grade or 6-12th grade girls to use computer science to impact their community and join our sisterhood of supportive peers and role models. For more information, …
25 library directors from IHLS participated in Directors U! The week covered what new directors need to know and also provided a great opportunity to build the networks that support us all!
Decatur Public Library (DPL) will be fine-free as of June 1, 2018. Library records indicate that this possibility has been considered and debated at least since the mid-1990s, but in early 2017 the idea really took off.
In 2017, DPL engaged the firm Library Strategies to guide the library in the process of developing a strategic plan. The first step was information gathering. The library conducted internal and external surveys (which had a huge response), held two focus groups, and a one-day retreat of various stakeholders. While there were a handful of themes that emerged in this process, one that stood out, across all demographic groups, was that overdue fines were a barrier to library use. Patrons who were more well-to-do, found the fines “annoying” and sometimes chose not to use the library in order to avoid them. Patrons who were of a lower socioeconomic bracket sometimes found themselves completely unable to pay their fines, and were therefore prevented from using the library by library policy.
Library fines accounted for less than 1% of the library’s revenues for the last several years. Administration forecast greater than 1% growth on other revenue lines, making the financial argument to continue fines untenable. Library administration talked with other fine-free libraries about the “how” of being fine-free and the results they had experienced. They all reported increased circulation and no problems with patrons returning materials. In fact, some reported that they had an improved rate of return. DPL will suspend library privileges anytime a patron has overdue materials, until the materials are renewed or returned in good condition. If the items are not returned within 30 days, the patron will be billed for the full cost of the materials. This bill will be waived once materials are returned in good condition, provided the materials have not been replaced.
IHLS received a generous Walmart State Giving grant to assist bringing 21st century technology to small rural libraries in central and southern Illinois. Libraries were selected to participate in this program based on their membership in IHLS, population, and the amount of their income from property taxes and grants.
