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

The Lisle Library District is in the midst of a comprehensive renovation project scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2023. The Library is operating in the building during the renovation, with collections and services being offered on the east end while construction occurs on the west end. Once the west end renovation is complete, the LLD will operate out of that side while the east is under construction.

Well not necessarily…That’s the lesson we learned at Palatine Library. We went through a full renovation on both floors of our Main Library during Covid shutdowns – the only silver lining to that challenging time. Like many libraries, door counts and program attendance went down drastically, but when we began seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, we wanted to see that reflected in our attendance.

So, our staff began to ask an important question: how do we get people back in the building?