The Impact of LSCA Programs in the Bur Oak,
Starved Rock and Heritage Trail Library Systems

Library Services and Construction Act funds have been integral to the growth and development of the libraries in the Heritage Trail Library System and its predecessor library systems, the Bur Oak and Starved Rock Library Systems. "Libraries are in transition," is the opening statement to The Guiding Principles for Illinois Libraries (Illinois Libraries, Spring 1997), and there is no more apt description of the challenges libraries in Heritage Trail and around the state have had to meet over the past few decades. Four areas of library challenges have been impacted significantly by the provision of LSCA funds: 1) The challenge of bringing service to the unserved; 2) The challenge of planning and providing for modern library facilities; 3) The insistent challenge of developing technologies and electronic access, and 4) The specialized needs of specific populations.

Given the localized nature of library funding, a persistent challenge for Illinois public libraries over the years has been the need to reach thousands of Illinois residents who are without public library service — those who live outside the boundaries of existing public libraries. The use of LSCA funds to support the Project PLUS Grant Program directly addressed this challenge over a 20-year period (1972-1993). In cooperation with Illinois library systems, Project PLUS funds were used to provide free library service to residents not previously served by a public library. After a year of service, residents were given the opportunity to vote on either establishing a new tax-supported library or annexing to an existing public library. With a successful referendum, grant funds were continued for a second year to provide a bridge to the flow of local tax monies.

Project PLUS funds were especially effective in the Bur Oak and Starved Rock Library Systems. Over a period of 20 years, more than 70,000 residents in these two systems gained access to public library services as a result of Project PLUS programs. Public libraries were established in Bourbonnais, Homer Township, Shorewood, Channahon and Minooka, while service was expanded to new areas in the communities of Manhattan, Morris, Oswego, Somonauk, Utica and Wilmington where libraries converted to public library districts. These successful Project PLUS programs demonstrated a successful partnership of statewide, regional and local efforts with the State Library, the library system and the local library, or, in some cases, a group of local volunteers combining resources to meet a challenge — a challenge that still persists.

Surely there is no greater challenge in the life of any library than the planning, development and construction of a new or newly expanded library building. For libraries in Heritage Trail, as with many Illinois public libraries, that challenge has also been met with a combined effort and partnership in which LSCA funds have played a vital role. New libraries in Bradley, DePue, Manhattan, Peru and Plainfield were built with the aid of LSCA Title II Construction Grants. Title II funds also have made possible the expansion and remodeling of public libraries in Morris, Oswego and Joliet. In all these projects, the key has been a partnership — not only the combined local efforts of library boards, staff and citizens, but also the partnership through LSCA funding. Although Title II funds are no longer available, the continuing challenge of providing new and enhanced public library facilities promises to be aided by ongoing "Live & Learn" construction funding. It is hoped the partnership will continue, for the challenge surely will.

Perhaps the most persistent challenge facing libraries, is the ongoing development of information technology. Although some lament the disappearance of the card catalog, it is the continuing development of the online catalog, the PC and the Web, that offers library users ready access to a universe of information only hinted at by the venerable card catalog. The growth and development of the Heritage Trail Local Library System Automation Program (LLSAP) and its online database

*Jay Larson, Assistant Director, Heritage Trail Library System, Shorewood.

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has been enhanced by the presence of LSCA grant funds from the very beginning.

In 1978 the Bur Oak Library System and the Joliet Public Library signed an agreement to develop an automated database of library holdings. This agreement was brought to realization with the aid of $25,000 in LSCA funds through the Interconnect Project. During the 1980s, LSCA funds made possible major software and hardware upgrades for Bur Oak and Starved Rock automation programs and enabled many libraries to purchase ports and terminals as they joined the respective automation programs as online participants. In 1993 the Bur Oak and Starved Rock databases were merged as part of the overall merger of the two library systems. From databases holding the abbreviated records of one or two libraries and the system collections, the Heritage Trail LLSAP has grown to an integrated, fully MARC-based online database and public access catalog containing 1.8 million items, representing the holdings of 35 public and school libraries. Without LSCA funding at critical junctures, such growth and development would have been very difficult.

Growth in online participation by Heritage Trail libraries has been accompanied by improved remote access to the database by offline libraries through dial-up and, more recently, Internet access. Here again, LSCA funds have aided the development. Through the Access Local LibrarY (ALLY) grant programs in 1994 and 1995, nearly 100 Heritage Trail libraries were able to acquire PCs to be used for dial access to the Heritage Trail database, ILLINET Online and other online databases. The Multimedia Computer Grant Program enabled many libraries to take advantage of the growing number of resources on CD-ROM. The Building Technology Accessibility Grants of recent years have assisted a number of libraries in improving telecommunications access essential in utilization of the Internet. During FY97,13 Heritage Trail libraries received nearly $200,000 in grant funds to enhance telecommunications and upgrade local area networks.

The Internet perhaps best illustrates the continuing challenge of changing technologies faced by the local library. It is literally a world of information, changing daily, at the library user's fingertips, provided his or her library can afford the threshold of access to make it usable — and the threshold always seems to be rising. Maintaining the type of state, regional and local partnership represented by cooperative grant programs such as LSCA is vital to the ability of Illinois libraries to meet such thresholds.

The library is not only the place where many find an introduction to the resources technology has to offer. It can also be the place where people can find resources to meet some specialized needs. LSCA funds have often enabled libraries to make such resources available by funding the purchase of specialized resources and efforts to increase awareness of such resources.

In Heritage Trail there has been a rich variety of LSCA-funded projects that have reached out to various groups of library users. Over the years, the Joliet Public Library has conducted several successful outreach programs with the aid of LSCA funds. Don't Miss Out on Life: Library Resources Helping Grade School Children focused on the needs of children from low-income families to learn basic life-skills. Grant funds were used to hire an outreach librarian to work with local schools, purchase books and software, and operate a public awareness campaign. This project was followed by Bridge to Success the next year, which enabled Joliet to develop a Juvenile Literacy Center at the library. The Center was designed as a "gateway" for children and parents to enable them to make best use of the library's resources. The Kankakee Public Library used an LSCA grant (Get a fob!) to establish a career information center in its library, fully stocked with information in books, periodicals, videos and software to assist patrons with that all-important job search. Grant funds also made possible workshops for job seekers.

In 1988-1989, the LaSalle Public Library coordinated the LSCA-funded Multi-Generational Story-telling and Enrichment Program, along with libraries in Earlville, LaMoille, Marseilles, Ottawa, Paw Paw, Peru, Princeton, Putnam County and Sandwich. The project provided workshops on storytelling and storytelling programs for children, young adults and the elderly in each community. Just this past year, 17 Heritage Trail libraries received LSCA Title I grants totaling $166,000, enabling them to enhance their resources for the visually impaired and the elderly, improve audio resources, provide Spanish-language materials and improve access to local resources.

Libraries continue to be in transition, and even if the destination is not always known, there are plenty of indicators from the path and challenges taken in the past to guide efforts in the future. Partnership, cooperation and the effective use of resource-sharing at all levels have enabled Heritage Trail libraries to address the needs of the unserved, the demands of technology, and the needs of library users of all ages. It is hoped that programs such as the new LSTA funding, "Educate and Automate," and "Live & Learn" will, in the future, build on the aid and accomplishments that LSCA provided in the past.

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