Question of the Day: Can’t the Literacy DuPage representative set up their display somewhere else?

The full question was: Can’t the Literacy DuPage representative set up their display and talk to potential volunteers somewhere that is not right by the computers?

The short answer is no. There just isn't anywhere else that allows for connecting with adults as they enter and exit the library. With no space on the ground level for a person with a display, the choices become the entry areas on the upper or lower level. Since Youth Services is housed on the lower level, the upper level entry area is the choice. Now look at the space: stairs, hallway area, opening onto the main floor. And where is the first logical place for a display as you enter? The table across from the Check Out Desk stands in the space available, right behind the public computers. It’s Literacy Awareness Month. Our library was the first partner outside of Dupage County for Literacy DuPage. No other agency in Will County fills this need. Literacy DuPage relies on volunteers to provide tutoring for adult literacy learners. Allowing a volunteer to recruit other volunteers at our library to help fulfill literacy needs in our community makes sense.

This is another example of the current building’s deficiencies as a functional library.

On the positive side - this display and volunteer recruited more than a dozen new volunteers for Literacy DuPage.

Question of the Day: Why was the Museum Pass checked out when I tried to get it?

This question was asked at the Check Out Desk recently: “Why was the Museum Pass checked out when I tried to get it? I was the first person at the Check Out Desk!”

Yes, you may have made it to the Check Out Desk first, but you were not the first in line. What you did not notice or were too late to see was the physically challenged woman who was waiting at the front doors well before the Library opened. She stopped Maintenance Assistant Jayne O outside to ask for help. This customer knew that she could not be first to the desk if she had to wait for the elevator, even though she was the first person waiting for opening time. So Jayne went to the Circulation staff on this customer’s behalf and brought her the passes for which she’d been waiting. 

The first customer received the passes, she just needed a little help to get them.

This story is just one more example of the deficiencies of the current building in providing library service to our community.