From Books And Bricks To Computers And Communications: The Importance of LSCA Funding for the River Bend Library System

A review of nearly $2 million of Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) grants to the River Bend Library System (RBLS) over a 31 year period illustrates that LSCA funding has been used primarily to match library materials with readers and readers with library materials. While on a day-to-day basis we may feel that a certain project supports "administration" or "promotes resource sharing," when River Bend's projects are viewed from the perspective a long stretch of time allows, it becomes relatively easy to reduce more than 30 years of work to Ranganathan's simple dictate, "To every reader, his book." Between 1967 and 1974, just after library systems were formed, projects focused on creating a system collection and getting books and knowledgeable staff to provide better services to member libraries. During this time period, reciprocal borrowing became an accepted method to help patrons meet their library needs. Starting in 1975, a six-year series of multi-type library cooperation grants were received, which helped provide staff, materials, publicity and other forms of support aimed at getting libraries of all types to freely share their resources with one another's patrons. This period inculcated the gospel of resource sharing. Starting in the early 80s, a resolute push began toward online identification of library resources and access through union catalogs and online circulation systems. The early and mid-90s began to "re-invent" the concept of access. The new concept called on libraries to make the information available to the reader electronically at his library, office or home. In 1998, it is still too early to see exactly how far libraries will go with electronic information. On bright days, it seems like more of what people want and need is becoming readily available at less cost. On dark days, it seems that copyright and software license holders will eventually put a stranglehold on what, in an earlier age, was at least free for viewing. But rather than deal with these weighty topics, the authors will simply review how $1,919,670 of LSCA money was spent over 31 years at the River Bend Library System and how that funding has significantly impacted system services.

How important has LSCA funding been to the River Bend Library System?

The short answer is, very important. The economic impact of the grants alone has been quite significant. Between 1967 and 1998, River Bend received about $1 of LSCA funding for every $4 of basic state funding, called "Area and Per Capita Grant" funding, or $1,919,670 in LSCA funding and $7,991,188 in Area and Per Capita Grant funding. Thus, federal LSCA funding was equal to 24 percent of basic state funding. Over this period, there were great variations in year-to-year receipts for LSCA projects. For example, in 1983, when the system began a local library system automation project using CLSI system, LSCA funding equaled 99.86 percent of the system's area and per capita income. In other years the system received no LSCA funding, while in still others grants were received of more than $100,000 each year. Not only was the dollar amount important but, as shown in the details that follow, many of the projects were pivotal to the development and evolution of system services.

What services has LSCA funding affected?

This LSCA funding review has been organized around the eight program categories used in the Illinois Administrative Code to set the parameters, goals and standards for the essential services library systems provide their members. Specifically, these programs are administration, automation, bibliographic access, consulting, continuing education, delivery, interlibrary loan, reciprocal access and reference service. The review also includes spending on the system's visually and physically disabled sub-regional library, currently known as the Talking Book Center of Northwest Illinois. This review from 1967 to 1998 clearly shows that LSCA funding has affected every aspect of library system service.

*Robert McKay, Executive Director, and Judy Hutchinson, General Services Consultant, River Bend Library System, Coal Valley.

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Administration

The system's first LSCA grant paid for part of the expenses of constructing a new building for the new library system. Procuring a permanent home was a very high priority of the original RBLS board of trustees and the first system director, George Curtis. The system had begun operation in the multi-purpose room of the Moline Public Library during FY 1967. Although the Moline Public Library had graciously made the space available to get the system started, it needed the space for its own use, and the amount of space available was inadequate for anything other than a very temporary residence for the system. In the summer of 1968, a request for $25,862 was approved by the State Library's Title I and Title II committee, but due to a freeze on the expenditure of federal funds, bids were not opened until March 10, 1969. Construction started in April, but work stopped when the building trades began negotiations on June 1, 1969. In due course, work resumed and system staff moved into the new 7,220-square-foot building in April 1970. An audit for the system's building fund in October 1970 placed the cost of the building, grounds equipment and furnishings for the new building at $169,905.

RBLS received a second construction grant for $100,000, in FY 1991 to remodel the system headquarters for accessibility. After receiving notice that the system had been awarded an accessibility grant, the system board decided to use system funds to address the second phase of its long-range plan at the same time. With an additional $150,000 from library system coffers, the combined funding not only allowed the system to add disabled-accessible entrances, restrooms and an elevator, but also provided the impetus to re-work the use of space within the headquarters for better provision of service to member libraries. Better meeting space was designed, new offices were created for increased staff efficiency, and an additional parking area was added for greater convenience for visiting member librarians. Because higher quality work space was created in FY 1991, RBLS was able to inexpensively outfit a previous secretarial room into a training room in FY 1997. A better work climate has also contributed to enabling RBLS to continually expand and improve member services without adding additional staff.

Automation Services

An application for a regional library system automation project in the amount of $249,500 was awarded to RBLS in 1984. It provided the base funding for a CLSI automated circulation system, which was installed at the RBLS headquarters and initially included 18 academic, public and special libraries. Of the original participants, 10 were located in Illinois and 8 in Iowa. The fact that Iowa libraries were included in the project made it particularly valuable. For many years, the libraries on both sides of the Mississippi had been cooperating in a variety of resource sharing projects. For example, by the early 80s, Illinois and Iowa Quad City area public and academic libraries encouraged bi-state, multi-type lending. Bi-state cooperation was fueled by the personalities of the librarians in the area, the fact that library resources in the Quad City area are evenly split on the two sides of the river, and the nature of an area where many people live in one state and work in the other. System members and project participants saw the library automation project as an important means for improving service to patrons through reciprocal lending and interlibrary loan. Shortly after the award of the project to River Bend, a formal users group was formed. This group, Quad City Libraries in Cooperation (Quad-LINC), also responded to the financial needs of the project by agreeing to pay all the operating expenses of the project through a formula that the group and system staff designed. While many library systems were sharing a large proportion of their automation project expenses, the River Bend situation varied. It would have been inappropriate for system operating hinds to subsidize Iowa libraries, and the level of expense to properly fund the project was far greater than RBLS could afford. The Quad-LINC funding formula, which fully supports the operating expenses of the consortium, had now served the group well for more than a dozen years with only a few minor alterations to reflect changing times and needs.

Today, there are 28 Quad-LINC online members consisting of nine academic, 14 public, two school and three special libraries, 17 located in Illinois and 11 in Iowa. Quad-LINC has grown to include more than 800,000 bibliographic records and 2.2 million item records. It is the union catalog for the RBLS service area. Quad-LINC now includes the holdings of more than 80 member libraries, representing 99 percent of the bibliographic collections held within RBLS. A spirit of cooperation and equal partnership was forged in the early 1980s that continues to grow in the late 1990s. LSCA funding enabled the system to establish a bi-state local library system automation system.

While the project that became Quad-LINC has been very successful, it had been preceded by the library automation project from hell. In 1980, the system was awarded a grant for $221,227 to establish a shared automated circulation system with eight member libraries. This project has a three-year payment plan that was tied to various milestones of operation. River Bend contracted with Cincinnati Electronics and for nearly two years waited for the vendor to deliver some semblance of the product ordered. In 1983, Cincinnati Electronics settled the system's claim for breach of

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contract and returned the funds RBLS had paid. This enabled the system to return to the State Library the $196,666 of LSCA grant funding it had received. Fortunately, this poor showing eliminated neither the local support for the project nor the opportunity for another application with the State Library, the successful project that was described above.

Since 1984, a number of smaller LSCA grants have allowed for enhancements to Quad-LINC. An FY 1989 project funded the development of an expanded authority file for Quad-LINC. Several grants between FY 1992 and FY 1996 allowed individual member libraries to become online participants in Quad-LINC. Another FY 1996 grant provided the funds for enhancing patron services, adding a telephone renewal and voice notification module to the system. An LSCA grant also provided the initial funds for RBLS and Quad-LINC to be connected to the Internet and to provide a full-range of Internet services to member libraries. Two grants were funded in FY 1994 and FY 1995 to connect to the Internet and expand Internet service, totaling more than $40,000.

Lastly, LSCA funding has impacted automation services within RBLS by allowing the system to become a key player in providing a Quad-Cities community information service. An FY 1997 grant provided more than $60,000 to implement "Community Link," a service based at RBLS that contributes a number of value-added features to a local Internet provision for the River Bend service area. Community Link provides access to several databases maintained by community organizations not previously publicly available online. The United Way's InfoLink database of social service agency information, the performance databases of Quad-City Arts, and key information from Bi-State Regional Planning Commission are available online because of the Community Link project. The Community Link server also houses a search engine that indexes identified local Internet sites, allowing the user to search by subject and only retrieve local community information. The Community Link grant additionally funded public access workstations at 14 public and school member libraries, allowing some very small libraries to begin providing public Internet access well before local budget dollars would have allowed. Community Link is still in its infancy, but hopefully will grow as a community service because of the foundation made possible by LSCA funds.

Bibliographic Access and Reciprocal Access Services:

LSCA funds have been extremely important in building successful bibliographic access and reciprocal access programs within RBLS. In the early years of the system, when systems were expected to have collections of 100,000 or more items, the bibliographic access projects of the 1970s helped the system purchase books that were housed either at the system or in member public libraries. Holdings records for these items, as well as those purchased by libraries with their own funds, were maintained at the system as a means of providing bibliographic access to material owned locally. Projects targeted at purchasing and housing materials, each for $29,110, were received in 1972 and 1974. These projects were part of a statewide program that provided every system with 10 cents per capita for every resident of the system area and another 5 cents per capita for residents of public library jurisdictions. In these early years, the system also participated in another statewide access initiative, the Children's Book Exhibit program. Through this program the system agreed to establish an examination room where a large selection of children's books could be examined by area children's librarians prior to purchase. The State Library was instrumental in developing this program. It contacted numerous children's publishers, and established the "Greenway" plan, through which all the titles of the publisher would be sent to the customer, who chose what to add to the collection. The concept was based on the observation that many large libraries were typically purchasing most of the work of some publishing houses. Plan proponents noted that receiving the books of these publishers as they were produced and returning unwanted copies would be more efficient than laboriously ordering, title by title, nearly every thing the house published. River Bend participated in two of these projects in FY 1972 and FY 1974.

Additionally, starting in the mid-70s and continuing through the mid-80s, the system received many grants aimed at promoting multi-type library cooperation. Many of these had a collection development component through which books, periodicals, microfilm, films and other library materials were purchased with LSCA money and made available from the system or member library collections. By the early 80s, as automated library systems started to become effective, bibliographic access (the concept of making information about the item and who holds it) began to replace the earlier approach of making the items themselves available.

In FY 1987, the system committed to a project that was funded with an LSCA grant. This project, titled "Access '86," was designed to enable small member public libraries a cost-effective means to access Quad-LINC to perform reference and interlibrary loan searches. Apple IIe micro-computers and phone lines at the system were provided to allow small libraries to dial-in to search the database. However, in December 1986, the system learned that the State Library faced many technical obstacles from LSCA program staff in Washington, D.C. with this round of projects and

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would be unable to fund any of them. Because the system staff, board and membership felt the $18,543 project had merit, the system forged ahead with the project at its own expense. Since then the "Access" program has evolved to include toll-free 800 telephone lines for members. All member library institutions have been trained to access Quad-LINC on a regular basis. Member libraries are not moving to identify more cost-effective local Internet service providers because of the importance of regularly accessing RBLS services in their every-day library service. The Access '86 project laid the groundwork for all member libraries to provide cost-effective access to Quad-LINC services, soon via the World Wide Web.

Additionally, LSCA funds provided the building block for Quad-LINC to become the true union catalog for RBLS libraries. An FY 1993 grant opportunity for retrospective conversion led RBLS staff to set a goal of having 98 percent of all member library bibliographic holdings in Quad-LINC by 1996. The grant received that year was used to add the holdings of a number of small public and special libraries to Quad-LINC. Subsequent emphasis on retrospective conversion as a key focus for Illinois "Live & Learn" funding has allowed RBLS to continue the momentum and reach the system goal of 98 percent coverage in the database. System staff have expanded the bibliographic access concept to strive toward "community access" to bibliographic information, where all libraries within a community have their holdings in Quad-LINC can care share their resources equitably. In implementing the "community access" concept, more than 40 small public, special, high school, junior high and elementary libraries have participated in retrospective conversion grant projects in the past five years. When the current FY 1998 retrospective conversion grant project is completed, Quad-LINC will include the holdings of all public, academic, special and high school libraries, and more than 60 percent of middle school libraries as well.

It is easy to see how the automation and bibliographic access projects of the 80s and 90s have helped member libraries and their patrons think and act regionally. These projects have expanded access to library resources beyond the local collections is a coherent and effective manner. They have helped put the depth and breadth of local collections at the finger tips of area library patrons. Reciprocal access through reciprocal borrowing has become a routine service that has grown to more than 470,000 items annually, representing nearly 20 percent of the total circulations on Quad-LINC. Grant dollars have fostered this development by helping both the system headquarters and member libraries with the necessary expenses. All types and sizes of member libraries have been irreversibly effected so that library services will never be the same.

Consulting Services

Consulting services also have been materially affected by LSCA grant funding. Besides the actual work that was accomplished, consulting projects also brought to the system several highly-valued, long-term employees in children's services and multi-type library cooperation. In FY 1974, when the State Library offered the library systems the opportunity to participate in the Staff Enrichment Program, River Bend proposed hiring a greatly needed children's services consultant. The State Library's original concept for this program was to help systems improve their reference service by providing grants to pay the wages of an MLS reference librarian for one year and half the wages for the second year. After finding that all systems did not feel the need for a reference librarian, the State Library agreeably expanded for focus of the program. A system could apply for a staff member in an area where it thought there was greater need, provided it could show its reference service met standards. At this time, River Bend contracted with Davenport Public Library for back-up reference service. Davenport had the strongest reference department and largest staff of trained reference librarians in the area. Rather than try to duplicate any aspect of the Davenport effort, the system proposed to hire a much needed children's services consultant. After the system's proposal was accepted, Jane Wade, now Jane Campagna, was hired and worked at the system for more than 10 years. Today, Mrs. Campagna still works in the area and is library director at Scott Community College in Bettendorf, Iowa.

Starting in FY 1975 and continuing for six years through FY 1980, the system received $267,967 as part of a statewide program to foster and promote multi-type library development and resource sharing. These projects paid the salary expenses for a consultant and provided funds for discretionary spending to support the objectives of the program. Mary Root was hired in September 1975. She remained in the system's employment until February 1996. Mary's responsibilities at River Bend included supervision of interlibrary loan and delivery activities. Her role in these areas helped focus the discretionary funds available on many practical activities, union lists and library material purchases to promote multi-type resource sharing.

In another area of consulting to enhance member library service, between FY 1987 and FY 1992 the system hosted six project PLUS (Promoting Larger Units of Service) grants at a total cost of $239,713. The purpose of this program was to establish new public libraries or expand existing public libraries into geographic areas that were not in the jurisdiction of any public

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library. Project PLUS demonstration grants often required two years of funding. During the first year, the demonstration period, activities would be undertaken to show the value of public library service to residents of the target area. For example, River Bend worked with the Rock Island and Silvis public libraries to help establish district libraries that would contract for service with these municipal libraries. I also worked with the Western District Library (Orion) to expand its legal service area into adjacent Henry County townships. During the first year of these projects, the libraries would provide library cards to target area residents and purchase more library materials, computers and online services or extend hours open to demonstrate to their home community how their service would be improved by expansion. If the voters in the target area and the home community approved a referendum calling for annexation or establishment of the preferred library service, there would be a second year of grant funding. The purpose of the second year was to continue services at the new, higher level until tax money for the new area could be levied and received by the library.

River Bend's participation was part of a larger movement that occurred between 1972 and 1993 when the Illinois State Library funded hundreds of Project PLUS grants statewide. That the Project PLUS program began so soon after library systems were started in 1967 is no coincidence. Lack of statewide coverage for tax supported public library service has long nettled Illinois librarians and citizens. A 1963 Library Development Committee of the Illinois Library Association found that 21 percent of the Illinois population was unserved by public libraries, and another 13 percent had inadequate public library service.¹ When the Library System Act went into effect in 1965, it recognized several broad needs for improving library service, one of which was to extend public library service to all citizens of the state. This need recognized that a large portion of the state's population was not included in the jurisdiction of a tax-supported public library. The Library System Act called on the State Librarian to establish rules for the administration of the act. Specifically, the Act called for activities that "provide library service for every citizen in the state by extending library facilities to areas not now served" and "encourage existing and new libraries to develop library systems serving a sufficiently large population to support adequate library service at a reasonable cost."

Since library systems were formed, library expansion, whether via Project PLUS or local initiative, has had a dramatic effect on reducing the number of residents who live in unserved areas. In 1964, 20.64 percent of the state's population (2,081,240 of 10,018,158) did not live in the jurisdiction of a taxed-supported public library. Now, less than 11 percent of the state's residents (1.2 million of 11,430,602) live in unserved areas. In the RBLS area, less than 10 percent of the area's residents lived in unserved areas. Adams and Bradley² relate that between 1972 and 1993, 682,386 people were added through 110 successful referenda. In the RBLS area, 16,485 people were added through three successful referenda. Today, these three libraries enjoy an income of $229,504 for their efforts, an amount nearly equal to the total initial cost of all the River Bend projects, whether successful or unsuccessful. In addition to the direct effect these projects had on their participants, their example helped influence three River Bend district libraries to expand their territories by annexing nearby untaxed, unserved areas. These libraries added another 3,200 people and more than $100,000 in increased income. It is probably easier to see the benefit of Project PLUS grants on the library system than any other category of grants the system has received. These truly were gifts that kept on giving.

Delivery Services

RBLS delivery services also has been impacted by LSCA funding over the past 30 years. One of the system's projects in the early 70s allowed the system to purchase a delivery van and begin library-to-library delivery services, which are a core member service today. Additionally, the telefacsimile projects of the late 80s provided member libraries with more tangible, in-house equipment that has improved "delivery" of communications between the system and member libraries. Two grants funded in FY 1987 and FY 1988, when fax machines were a new technology, allowed groups of member libraries to obtain fax machines. This funding was the basis for the RBLS Fax Network that now includes all member institutions. In the past 10 years since the initial LSCA projects, some member libraries have purchased newer, more full-featured machines and have passed their older machines on to members that didn't have fax machines. Most recently, FY 1998 Educate & Automate grant funds allowed the remaining member libraries to apply for and receive machines. Expansion of the RBLS Fax Network to include all member libraries has increased the efficiency of system communications, has impacted inter-library loan services, and has allowed all members to provide telefacsimile service to their patrons.

Interlibrary Loan Services

A number of the grant projects already described have had a significant impact on interlibrary loan service within RBLS. Many of the multi-library projects of the 70s and 80s provided resources to assist with interlibrary loan. The telefacsimile project described above offered a new technology for requesting interlibrary

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loans. The "Access 86" project and its subsequent evolution has meant that all member libraries can access Quad-LINC and search for interlibrary loans. The retrospective conversion projects have had a huge impact on the ability of all members to share resources equally. And, the initial LSCA grant to begin Quad-LINC perhaps has had the biggest impact on interlibrary loan, because out of that project 28 member libraries now share a circulation system and 80 libraries have their holdings included in the database. Interlibrary loan statistics within RBLS more than demonstrate the importance of all of these projects for RBLS libraries. Total interlibrary loan traffic has grown from less than 10,000 in FY 1984 to 73,110 in FY 1997. Statistics show that 15 years ago, before Quad-LINC, a handful of the largest libraries did most of the lending of materials simply because libraries did not have access to each other's holdings. Today, systemwide holds allow all members to share proportionally, and all member libraries whose holdings are in Quad-LINC loan as well as borrow. It is not unusual for the smallest libraries to loan 30 or 40 items from their collection in a month, a load-leveling that has provided better, more equitable service for all.

Reference Services

LSCA grant projects have helped the system's role in back-up reference services for member libraries and their patrons grow and evolve. For most of the 70s, the system contracted with the Davenport Public Library to provide back-up reference service because it had the largest reference collection and trained reference staff. However, starting in 1980, a multi-year project enabled the system and several member libraries to share a trained reference librarian. Through this program, the shared reference librarian worked at several larger libraries and the library system that agreed to pay an increasing proportion of the librarian's salary with each ensuing budget year. While on River Bend time, the librarian held training sessions for member library personnel and provided reference back-up. For a variety of reasons, this approach collapsed in FY 1983, and the system returned to contracting with an area library or assigning a staff member to provide reference back-up during the mid- to late-80s.

An important change in approach began in 1989 when the system began to build on grant projects that enhanced or improved resource sharing capabilities for member libraries to provide a means for improved reference service. In FY 1990 and FY 1991, RBLS undertook two "Reference Excellence" grant projects. There were a number of components to these projects: 1) training was provided for area librarians to improve their reference skills; 2) 16 participant member libraries thoroughly analyzed their reference collections, and a grid of reference collection "strengths" was created; and 3) periodical collections were heavily analyzed to ascertain reference strengths and to determine which titles were being repeatedly requested through ILL from outside the area. The Reference Excellence projects made it obvious that rather than contracting with one library, these 16 libraries could better provide back-up reference to other members as well as sharing their reference strengths among themselves. Over several years of evolving commitment and confidence, the RBLS Reference Cooperative Network took shape. Indeed, when library system funding was cut in FY 1992, area libraries re-doubled their commitment to the Reference Cooperative and the last vestiges of a single library, back-up reference contract dissolved. While a lack of funding at the system may have contributed an immediate impetus for formalizing the RBLS Reference Cooperative, the willingness of libraries to participate as providers and recipients grew from the cooperative spirit born in the reference grants.

In 1992 when the RBLS Reference Cooperative Network was formally established, a brochure of participating libraries' reference collection strengths created from the grant project was provided to all members to assist them in selecting a library to turn to for back-up reference service. A more in-depth analysis of reference strengths also was included in the RBLS Directory of Libraries and Library Policies, and participant members agreed to continue collecting in those subject areas to commit to maintain those reference strengths. Protocol and procedures for managing the Reference Cooperative Network and providing statistics to RBLS were put in place that continue today. Any member library can call or send a request to one of the 16 "Key Provider" libraries that will answer the question or refer it to another participant library. More than 600 requests are answered annually through the Network. The RBLS Reference Cooperative Network has evolved in more recent years to include a local Reference listserv, where any member librarian can post a reference question and any subscribing librarian can post a reply to the question, a local "Stumpers" listserv. The foundation built through LSCA funds has created a successful cooperative reference service that benefits all RBLS member libraries.

LSCA funds have also been important in identifying and preserving local special collections within RBLS. Two grant projects in FY 1990 and FY 1991 provided funds to identify special local history resources in area libraries and produce a catalog titled Rock Island County History Union List.

Talking Book Services

The Talking Book Center at RBLS also has benefited from LSCA grants to maintain and expand the services provided by that department. In FY 1985 and 1986,

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LSCA funds were awarded to implement a "Kids on the Block," program. Twenty-one kid-sized puppets with special needs were purchased, and a team of volunteers including librarians was trained to give performances using the puppets. The aim of the project was to help break down barriers erected by "normal" people, and to help stimulate use of the Talking Books program. The second year of the grant expanded the program and added a core collection of books related to Kids on the Block special needs topics to the RBLS collection. A bibliography was provided to member librarians to use the materials in conjunction with the program. The Kids on the Block puppets are still used by RBLS librarians today and still serve as a valuable outreach of Talking Book Center services.

Other Talking Book Center LSCA grants include an FY 1988 grant to ease the transition as the RBLS Talking Book Department became the Northwest Illinois Talking Book Center and statewide centers downsized from 18 to 6. That same year, RBLS received the first year of a two-year grant to implement the WVIK Radio Reading Service in partnership with the community public radio station. Through that program, the radio station provides a reading of local newspapers and other current items so that visually and physically disabled patrons can have the same access to current local information as other patrons. That program remains popular today and has built a strong partnership that has benefited many residents in the RBLS service area.

Conclusion:

This "alphabet soup" list of successful LSCA projects completed by RBLS is a testimonial to the importance of federal funding in support of library programs. Like its successor LSTA program, the Library Services and Construction Act grant program allowed RBLS and libraries across Illinois and the U.S. to implement innovative library programs that would not have been possible without outside funding support. Many of these RBLS projects were implemented so successfully that the components of the program have become part of the every day operation of RBLS and its member libraries. Even though some basic system service areas are not mentioned in this article, the grants described above have affected every service RBLS provides. It is only when one looks back at the list of what was possible because of LSCA funding that one truly appreciates its all-encompassing impact on system services. As mentioned in the introduction, LSCA funding has impacted every aspect of system operations, from bricks to books and from computers to communications. The ongoing strength of library districts within RBLS, of Quad-LINC, of resource sharing within the system and of the RBLS Reference Cooperative Network, as well as the other projects described above, is largely due to the foundation that was provided through the LSCA program. Indeed, how RBLS, its member libraries, other library systems in Illinois and libraries across the country have evolved over the past 15 years has been led by the ability to use these special grant funds to develop, implement and expand innovative library programs that have benefited us all.

Footnotes

1 "Library Development Committee," Illinois Libraries, March 1965, p. 225.

2 Adams, Stanley E., and Bradley, Jim, "A Study of Public Library Referenda in Illinois," Illinois Libraries, Spring 1995, p.52.

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