HR1049 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1049 LRB094 19979 HSS 57393 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the State of Illinois offer our sincere congratulations to the Elmhurst Public Library on 90 years of service to the Elmhurst community; and

WHEREAS, The library opened on March 22, 1916, during a heavy snowstorm and had over 100 residents show up to get library cards; and

WHEREAS, In the beginning, the library had 830 books and was only open 10 hours per week; and

WHEREAS, The Elmhurst Library was first located in a room at the north end of the Glos building on York Street and Park Avenue, which it rented for $150 per month; and

WHEREAS, Katharine Breitenbach, the first librarian, was paid a salary of $15 per month, and $5 a month was paid for janitor services; and

WHEREAS, Within one year, the library's collection had grown to 1,507 volumes and 12 magazine subscriptions; there were 643 registered borrowers and books had circulated 10,400 times; and

WHEREAS, During World War I, the library distributed food pamphlets and government bulletins and collected, with the help of school children, over 1,000 books for soldiers' camps; and

WHEREAS, In 1919, the Library Board appointed a committee to look for land suitable for a public library building, and in 1922, the library moved to the first floor of the former Wilder home, which was purchased along with an acre of land from the Park District for $14,000; and

WHEREAS, After moving to its new location, story hours were given throughout the year, and according to a report in the Elmhurst Press, during the 1923-24 school year over 1,200 children from first to sixth grade attended story hours; and

WHEREAS, The second floor of the library was opened in 1923 for community groups such as the Elmhurst Woman's Club and the Girl Scouts to meet for a fee of $10 a month, and at that time many of the library books were purchased from Marshall Field and Company; and

WHEREAS, A new head librarian, Grace Murray, was hired in 1926, and the library extended its hours to all day Monday through Saturday, except at lunch and dinner time, and that same year the library purchased a telephone, and residents were encouraged to call "Elmhurst 1245" for information about books and library services; and

WHEREAS, By 1927, over 2,100 people were registered borrowers, and the library held 6,431 volumes; additional hours caused the library's circulation to jump to 50,019 that year; and

WHEREAS, After a fire in 1930, the building was rewired and redecorated, and for the first time part of the second floor was used for an adult fiction collection; and

WHEREAS, As part of Elmhurst's Centennial celebrations in 1936, the cornerstone of a library addition was laid; the remodeling project took eight months to complete, and a new children's room was added increasing the size of the building to 10,750 square feet at a cost of $36,000; and

WHEREAS, On February 1, 1937, when the library reopened for regular business, 954 books were checked out that day alone; and

WHEREAS, During World War II, the Elmhurst Public Library joined Elmhurst College and York High School libraries in the nation-wide Victory Book Drive, and Elmhurst citizens collected thousands of books for soldiers at USO centers, military camps, and training stations; and

WHEREAS, In 1963, the citizens of Elmhurst voted to approve a $500,000 bond issue to build an addition to the library, the addition increased the size of the building to 42,750 square feet and was dedicated on October 17, 1965; and

WHEREAS, Beginning in the late 1970s, cassettes, videos, audiobooks, CDs, DVDs, computers and Internet access were added; in 1994, the card catalog was replaced with computer catalogs; and

WHEREAS, A new library was built and opened on October 4, 2003; the new building offers more space for books, more public computers, meeting rooms, quiet and group study rooms, a computer training lab, and wireless Internet access; and

WHEREAS, The Elmhurst Public Library has grown with the Elmhurst community and worked over the years to provide state-of-the-art facilities and materials; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we do hereby offer our congratulations to Elmhurst Public Library on its 90th anniversary; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the Elmhurst Public Library, the Elmhurst Public Library Board of Trustees, Mayor Thomas Marcucci, City of Elmhurst, and the Aldermen of Elmhurst.