Dedication of Susan Alona Aspen Garden

On November 8, 2009, friends and family gathered to dedicate the new Susan Alona Aspen Garden, which was donated by the Takiff Family. Mrs. Aspen was a longtime resident of Glencoe and a valued trustee of the Glencoe Public Library from 1993 to 2003. As an expression of the great friendship shared by the families and in recognition of Mrs. Aspen's contributions to the beauty of the library, the Takiff Family generously donated funding to create the new garden on the front lawn.

Thanks to everyone who attended the dedication ceremony. Please take a moment to visit the garden while the weather is still accomodating!

Library Closed Friday

On Friday September 25th, the library will be closed for a staff training day. We will reopen on Saturday. We apologize for any inconvenience and remind you that you can always renew books, place holds and more at our website.

Library Construction Alert

The front door of the library will be closed from Friday, May 22nd through Tuesday, May 26th due to the ongoing renovation of the front of the library. During this time the emergency exit on the southeast side of the library will serve as the entrance and exit, as was the case for a short while last fall. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Construction Update: All Walkways are Open

All walkways leading to the library are now open, including ramps. We will be concentrating on landscaping work next.

Construction Update: Entrance to the Library

The library can once again be entered from the front, and the temporary back entrance is now locked. However, there are now only two access points to the library from the front: there is an entrance using the east stairs on Park Ave. and there is a ramp that exits towards Village Court. The other stairs and ramp are still closed while work proceeds. As always we apologize for any inconvenience and ask that you contact us should you have any particular concerns or needs.

Construction Update: Temporary Entrance

As most of you know by now, there is extensive construction happening with the hardscape of the building (for more information on the project, see this front page item). Unfortunately, the front door will be inaccessible for one week starting Monday the 13th.

During the week of October 13th through October 20th you will need to enter and exit the library through the library's southeast emergency exit. This entrance can be reached by walking south on Village Court, turning left on the gravel path across Wyman Green, and then turning left onto the temporary plywood path that will take you to the door.

There will be signs outside the library to help you find this entrance, and we will provide home delivery if you are unable to access the building. We ask that you not return AV items to the bookdrop on the side of building. We apologize for this inconvenience and assure you that we have kept the time that the front door will be inaccessible down to a minimum.

Construction Update

Starting Friday, September 5th you will see extensive construction happening in the front of the library. With financial support from our very generous Friends of the Library, the library is starting a new facilities project to improve access and safety for people entering and leaving our building and to upgrade the main entrance. A new ramp will lead from the handicapped parking space directly to the library entrance, and the steps will be redesigned to eliminate the slippery slope toward the street. Additional lighting will provide greater security along all newly paved walkways.

After last year’s heavy snowfalls, we compared costs and methods of snow removal. Placing heated tubes under the new sidewalk will actually reduce the library’s snow removal costs while making the sidewalks safer. Ensuring that Glencoe residents will be able to visit the library with greater ease and safety is a high priority for library trustees and staff.

Unfortunately, this work will present temporary inconvenience. To maximize ease of entry for our visitors, this project will be implemented in two parts: access to the building will be from the east side while construction takes place on the west side; once the new ramp and steps are completed on the west side, visitors can enter from that direction while the east half is being built. Signs will be posted to keep our visitors informed throughout the project.

The Friends, Library Trustees, and staff are all very excited about the opportunity to offer new services by refurbishing the entrance to the library to make drop off and pickup of materials much easier for everyone. As ever, if any special assistance is needed, please phone the library at 847-835-5056 and ask for the reference librarian, who can provide updated information about access and also arrange for home delivery of materials for those who find it difficult to come into the library. We appreciate your support and will do everything we can to minimize the disruption of these projects.