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| Chrisman Public Library |
2009 no. 15
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| Library Profile |
| Library Name: Chrisman Public Library Location: 108 N. Illinois Street, Chrisman, IL 61924 Type: Public Mission: Chrisman Public library features high-demand, high interest material in a variety of formats. It is our purpose to offer a collection of materials and services on site so that our patrons need not always travel to larger cities for education and entertainment. LTLS Directory Page: http://www.lincolntrail.info/cin.html LTLS Member Since: 1966 |
An interview with
Director,
Mary Galway and Assistant Librarian, Gwen Montgomery.
| What is unique about your library?
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We are very lucky to have a new library that is
fully paid for. The building we are housed in was built in 1984 and was
originally a drug store and a dress shop. In 2004, we did a complete
renovation. We got a building grant from the Illinois State Library and about
$45,000 in donations. Many people donated time and labor during the renovation,
which has really made this library a community library. Many patrons still
donate to the library, which is how we get most of our new books and materials. |
| What are the primary goals and objectives of your library? |
Our
primary goal is to serve the public and be a useful resource for their personal
and reference needs. We recently became fully automated so that we could better
serve our patrons needs. Now our patrons can get the materials they need
through LTLS, but we can also help by sharing our resources. |
| What cooperative efforts are you currently doing? |
We
are part of the East Central Illinois Cooperative, which includes several towns
in our area. Over the years, we have done several grants within the
cooperative. Our latest grant was an art grant that was done with Catlin. We
bought materials and art supplies and hold art classes for children. It has
been really popular. We've also been a part of several rotating collections
within the cooperation. Outside of that we cooperate with LTLS by interlibrary
loaning our materials and are involved with city and community projects when
time allows, and do our best to work with the schools when we can. |
| Tell us a story about your library. |
We
have a lady in the community who has Multiple Sclerosis and is confined to bed at the nursing
home. We often interlibrary loan materials and take them to her. She has good
friends who return the materials to the library for her. Recently, some of the
junior high volunteers have been drawing her pictures and sending them to her.
She really enjoys the visits from us and the pictures from the kids. In a
small, public library we know our patrons and do what we can to help them get
the materials they want and need no matter what their situation is. |
| If money were no object, what services would you add? |
Almost everything we would like to add would require more
staff. We are only open in the afternoons and our patrons would love for us to
be open in the morning, so that is the first thing we would do: hire staff so we could be open more
hours. With more staff members we would then be able to add more programs. We
would love to have story time weekly instead of monthly. We could really use
more teen and adult programming. Community outreach would be a nice service to
add. We have one book club, but it would be great to have a teen book club. If
we had more money to put towards the collection, we would purchase more new
reference materials.
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| What is popular in your library? |
Currently, the Twilight series is most popular in our
library. Over the years some things that stick out are: Shaman, by Noah Gordon,
Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier, and the Harry Potter Series. When the book
Too Politically Sensitive came out about the murders that happened in this
area, it was such a hot topic that we had the author, Michale Callahan, come to
speak in the library. |
| How does your library use online tools to connect to your users? |
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We offer all the services we can with just 2 full time
librarians and volunteers, unfortunately, online services aren’t included. We don’t have a website, but patrons
often email us and we communicate that way. When we automated, several patrons
started using the LINC Catalog from home to request books.
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Request a visit to your library If you would like to set up a special date for us to visit your library contact LTLS Consultant Michelle Ralston Library of the Week is published by Lincoln Trail Libraries System, 1704 W. Interstate Dr., Champaign, IL 61822 217-352-0047 - ltls@lincolntrail.info Executive Director: Jan Ison, Editorial and Design Team: Michelle Ralston and David Lottes |
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