In a telling example of the Library's need for additional space, especially meeting room space, the Board of Library Trustees found it very difficult to identify a date and time for Special Board meetings to interview architects at the Library. Demonstrating exactly how frustrating it is for community members interested in using the Library's meeting rooms, in the two week time span for the weekday evening meetings, neither the Small Meeting Room nor Large Meeting Room were available for the time period needed. The interviews will instead take place in the very cramped confines of the Storytime Room, where three of the four walls are lined with cabinets, cupboards, boxes and carts. If the Library Board cannot get into the rooms that are supposed to serve as community meeting space, what chance do other community groups have in booking the room? One central role of a 21st century library is to provide a community gathering and collaboration space. At 1/3 the size Illinois Library Standards set for a population of 75,337 residents, it is a role the 1980's facility cannot fulfill.
*Yes, there are some other venues in the downtown that the Trustees could have used through intergovernmental cooperation. However, as part of the process is to introduce the firms to be interviewed to the Library and its facility, an off-site location was not a good fit for these meetings.
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