New Robert Crown Center Library Branch Opens To Public

EVANSTON, IL — The fourth branch of the Evanston Public Library opens Saturday in the new Robert Crown Center. The city's newest public library is part of the rebuilt $53 million community center, ice complex and library at the corner of Main Street and Dodge Avenue.

The branch features free wireless internet access, 10 desktop computers, three study rooms and a community meeting room. Staff, collections and some programs at the branch are bilingual in English and Spanish, and bilingual Sunday family programs are planned for the new branch, library staff announced.

"Our new branch has been carefully designed to meet the evolving needs of our residents and will feature programs, materials and staff whose diversity reflects our community, including bicultural and bilingual staff," Executive Director Karen Danczak Lyons said in a statement. "I look forward both to welcoming new members to our EPL family, and to introducing current patrons to this new location."

The library last year budgeted for the addition of equivalent of about seven new full-time employees to staff the new Robert Crown branch. Personnel costs were up by more than 12 percent, but a decrease of more than $1.3 in capital spending meant the library's 2020 budget request was down by 5 percent compared to the prior year.

In November 2019, the Evanston City Council voted 7-2 to approve the library's property tax levy request of nearly $7.5 million, which represented an increase of 8.5 percent compared to the prior year.

One of the two aldermen to vote against the levy, 9th Ward Ald. Cicely Fleming, attributed her decision to the library board's unwillingness to allow its lease to expire on its branch at 900 Chicago Ave. — less than a mile from the new Robert Crown facility. A month earlier, the library board had voted 5-4 to extend its lease on Chicago Avenue until at least January 2021 at a higher monthly rate.

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The Robert Crown Library, 1701 Main St., will open its doors to the public for the first time at 9 a.m. Saturday. Regular hours run from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays.

Later this year, library staff plan to offer the ability for residents with library cards and signed agreements access the branch for two hours before it opens on weekdays and for three hours after it closes on weekends.

When complete, the Robert Crown complex will include two full-sized ice rinks, a gym, an indoor running track, artificial turf sports fields, meeting rooms, multipurpose rooms, childcare facilities and space for camp programs.

An open house event at the community center is planned for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 14. It is set to feature free ice skating lessons, pottery and art activities, dance demonstrations, preschool programs, gym activities, games, library programs and a magician. Community leaders and city staff are scheduled to celebrate the invocation of the new facility at 11 a.m.

According to city staff, visitors will be given an "event passport," and those who collect stamps at all of the facilities featured locations will be eligible for prizes like beach tokens, skate passes and a party package.

Work on the outdoor sports fields at the Robert Crown Center is scheduled to get underway in March and be complete in August following the demolition of the old community center, according to city staff.