Joliet Public Library Unveils Youth Art Gallery Presented by Old National Bank

Joliet Public Library is pleased to announce the unveiling of the new Youth Art Gallery, presented by Old National Bank. The gallery space on the second floor of the Ottawa Street Branch will feature artwork from Joliet’s young artists from local area schools. 

Business Librarian at the Crystal Lake Public Library here.  I had a patron come in for a one-on-one reference appointment shortly before the COVID-19 lockdown went into effect.  She and her partner were looking to open a bookstore and needed help gathering information.  I showed her our collection of business books, worked with her to find resources on writing a business plan, and demonstrated a couple of databases that would help her in her quest. 

I recently met with my state senator to talk about support for libraries. It was an interesting conversation and at the very least, I hope I made her think differently about what is happening in libraries. My own journey to this meeting was a bit odd, but I wanted to share it with you in case you might want to go on your own advocacy journey.

As costs rise across the entire economic playing field, libraries are feeling the squeeze on their budgets.  One way to help mitigate a tight programming budget is to foster and maintain community partnerships.  Working with the businesses in your community is a winning solution for everyone involved.  Libraries get exposure to potential new card holders, while businesses get “free advertising” to prospective customers.  Often, the business community does not think about the library as a potential partner, so it is up to the library’s marketing or programming lead to initiate these relation