Last night’s meeting was a nail-biter, but the good news is: Council voted to give the Library Board the budget as allocated by the City Manager to administer as it sees fit. Since the Board has already pledged support of the Branches, and will next year move to the Library Fund model, it appears (for now) that the Branches have been saved. We couldn’t begin to thank everyone who participated in this effort, but suffice to say that when we asked you to put up yard signs saying Libraries Yes in your yards, we unloaded 500 of those puppies in less than 24 hours.  Supply couldn’t keep up with demand — You guys are good!

Jeff Smith posted an excellent recap of the sequence of last night’s events on the Central Street Neighbors website, and I would encourage you to take a read. Thank you, once again, to everyone who spoke, signed petitions, put up signs, wrote emails and letters, made donations, or just generally participated in our efforts these past many months. We feel incredibly lucky to live in such a wonderful community, and are grateful for your unflagging support.

The City Council will vote on the final budget on Monday, Nov. 22nd at 7PM and it would be nice to have as many of you in the crowd as possible to show our support for the Council’s decision to let the Library Board do what it does best, manage the libraries. If you would take the time for one last email to the Council thanking them, that would be greatly appreciated. Again, our most sincere thanks for everything you’ve done. Stay tuned. We’re sure there’s more adventure on the horizon…

Evanston Public Library Friends group members are rightfully disgusted by last week’s action of the Evanston Public Library Board to adopt a zero-tax-increase guideline.

Friends group members expressed their anger by leaving the downtown library’s community room as the board finished its 5-3 vote Sept. 15 in support of the proposal by member Diane Allen-Jacobi.

The zero tax increase, except for salary and benefit adjustments, makes no sense in light of the board’s recent decision to take control of the library system budget by switching to a Library Fund model.

READ THE REST OF THE EDITORIAL HERE.

Evanston mayor had financial link to one of her Library Board picks

September 21, 2010 By BOB SEIDENBERG bseidenberg@pioneerlocal.com

Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl had financial dealings with one of her new nominees to the Library Board, stepping in and buying the family’s house after it went into foreclosure, public records show, and then serving as a landlord for an unspecified period before selling it back.

With the City Council’s consent, Tisdahl appointed new member Sharon Arceneaux just two days before the Sept. 15 Library Board meeting, in which Arceneaux and a second new board member gave the board a new majority on a proposal to back guidelines for no tax increase next year.

Read the rest of the article here.

Evanston Public Library Friends’ mission is to support the library. The concern of EPLFriends is that these are challenging times for the library. Board members need to have a vision of all that libraries can do for a community, the skills to help realize that vision, and the desire to do the job. We are looking forward to tomorrow night’s meeting and hope that all Board members keep their fiduciary duty to EPL top of mind.

If I hadn’t read it myself, I wouldn’t have believed it. Here’s what the City Manager thinks could work…

Check It Out.

Clearly he has his finger on the pulse of this community and the way we use our libraries.

Or, here’s another idea: Maybe we could replace other, ahem, City positions with Vending Machines?

In a shocking turn of events, the Library Board voted to accept as a guideline for budgeting the worst of all possible scenarios — and one which couldn’t begin to support the branches, much less strengthen the system as a whole. Votes for the “guideline” included the two new board members as well as Diane Allen Jacobi (who made the motion), Dona Gerson (who seconded), and Lynette Murphy.

The motion, which had to be repeated several times, was confusing at best, particularly as it represented NONE of the various budgeting options which had been prepared by City Staff. Board member, Gail Bush, who is also President of the Illinois Library Association, Christopher Stewart, Board President, and Susan Newman voted against, with Gail saying that due to the complexity of the situation, more time, discussion and analysis was necessary. After spending more than 10 months following this minute to minute, and still being confused as to what was being proposed, I would have to agree and can’t imagine that the newest members had a firm grasp on what they were voting for. Let the board members who voted for this “guideline” know if you don’t agree. Their email addresses can be found on the City’s website.