Trustees To Vote On Closure Of 2 Evanston Public Library Branches

EVANSTON, IL — After Evanston Public Library's director warned of a lack of resources to safely open all four branches during the coronavirus pandemic, library trustees are set to vote Wednesday on a permanent closure of its smaller two branches.

Both the North Branch at 2026 Central St. and the Chicago Avenue Main Street Branch at 900 Chicago Ave. have remained closed to the public since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. In-person services have resumed at the library's Main Branch at 1703 Orrington Ave. and the new Robert Crown Branch at 1801 Main Street.

Executive Director Karen Danczak Lyons recommended trustees notify the landlord the library plans to vacate the Chicago Avenue-Main Street branch before the end of the year. The southern branch costs about $5,000 a month in rent and fees to keep on the books, Danczak Lyons told trustees in a pair of Aug. 13 memos advocating the branch closures.

Danczak Lyons said every decision by library staff will be made with a focus on public safety and equity — despite an uncertain budget future — even if the city is able to return to a semblance of normal operations.

"Our branch system will likely not look the same. Not only has our community changed, but the context for our branches has changed," the director told trustees. "The Library is always evaluating its physical footprint across Evanston. What that looks like this year or in generations to come is shaped by budgets, needs and the diverse expectations of this city we serve."

The North Branch opened in 1952 on city-owned property on Central Street. A southeast branch has existed in some form since 1917, while a Fifth Ward branch existed only between 1975 and 1981, Danczak Lyons said.

Under the recommended closure plan, library staff would draw up a plan and timeline to shut down operations, negotiate a source of funds with city officials to retire the debt on capital bonds and redistribute library materials and staff. Library staff intend to keep the library's lease agreement with Central Street tenant Lush Wine & Spirits in place, according to the library director.

The closure plan has drawn public opposition from the Central Street Neighbors Association, the Southeast Evanston Association, the merchants group Central Street Evanston, Evanston Public Library Friends and the actor and Evanston native Jeremy Piven, among others.

Keep our library open! I got you https://t.co/7x8mbrAVn9
— Jeremy Piven (@jeremypiven) August 15, 2020

Former Library Board President Michael Tannen warned last month in a letter to current trustees that it appears officials in Evanston's city government believe they have unfettered rights to take over library space at the Main Branch and possibly the North Branch as well. City staff have suggested relocating, at least temporarily, services that had been offered at the Civic Center to portions of the Main Branch.

"The City’s relationship with buildings it owns is not one of steward and property. It is closer to parasite and host," Tannen told trustees. "Time and time again, the City has inhabited buildings; laid them to waste through overuse and neglect of the fundamental principles of deferred maintenance; and then moved on. The fact that the Civic Center is an inefficient and unusable hulk does not mean that the City can take over EPL [Evanston Public Library] facilities and repeat that pattern again."

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Tanner called on trustees to "fight to preserve what EPL fought so hard to achieve."

A decade ago, the Evanston City Council voted 5-4 to keep the two branch libraries open after a public fundraising campaign. The next year, the South Branch closed, but the nonprofit Evanston Public Library Friends and volunteers reopened it, calling it The Mighty Twig. Then in 2013, the library took over the branch and rebranded it the Chicago Avenue Main Street, or CAMS, Branch.

The Evanston Public Library Board of Trustees is scheduled to hold a remote meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Instructions for remote access via phone or video-teleconferencing software are available online.