White Oak Library District hopes to increase funding with April referendum

Lockport — After several failed attempts in the past decade, the White Oak Public Library District looks to increase its funding with a referendum on the April 1 ballot.

According to library Director Scott Pointon, the library district, which operates three branches in Lockport, Crest Hill and Romeoville, has been trying to get the referendum passed since 2016.

The question, as it appears on the ballot, reads: “Shall the limiting rate under the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law for the White Oak Library District, Will County, Illinois, be increased by an additional amount equal to 0.0286% above the limiting rate for levy year 2023 and be equal to 0.208% of the equalized assessed value of the taxable property therein for levy year 2025?”

In plain language, the district is asking voters to approve a small tax increase to more fully fund its libraries for the first time since 1929, when residents originally voted to make the then one-branch Lockport Township Library into its own separately taxed entity.

Although voters approved a $23 million construction bond measure in 2010 to rebuild the Crest Hill branch and refurbish the Lockport branch and recently purchased Romeoville branch, all regular operating budget increases have come from property that has been absorbed by the district over time.

Currently, the library’s limiting rate is charging about 18 cents per $100 of assessed property value. The referendum is asking voters to agree to pay 20.8 cents per $100 of value.

Pointon said the results would be between $700,000 and $800,000 in additional funding and cost the average household about $20 more in taxes per year.

“The problem is we can’t really advertise much, and the question is a bit confusing,” he said. “We were building up momentum putting it on the ballot every year until 2019, when we only lost by 128 votes, but then the pandemic happened, and we lost some of that momentum.”

Because of widespread financial concerns created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the library district did not try to ask for more funding in 2020 or 2021, but it resumed its efforts in 2022 as business began to increase again.

“We’re booming again,” Pointon said. “We’ve steadily been seeing more business since we reopened in June 2020, but in the last six months, we’ve surpassed pre-pandemic levels of business.”

The library is seeing more business than ever as the popularity of e-books, magazines and e-audiobooks continues to grow, he said.

“Our e-checkout services have seen almost as many checkouts in the last year as a physical branch, and the physical branch usage has not gone down,” Pointon said. “It’s almost like we’re operating a whole fourth branch.”

Pointon said the district has three specific plans for the funding.

The simplest piece of the plan is extending the three branches' hours, especially on Friday evenings.

Currently, the branches close at 5 p.m. Fridays, which Pointon said leads to a lot of frustration from working residents who often are turned away or rushed as they “try to come in and get their weekend’s entertainment after work.”

The branches are currently open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Expanding outreach

Pointon said that extending the evening hours on Friday also would allow for the district to provide more weekend programming for teens and adults.

Additionally, White Oak libraries would like to expand their outreach services, particularly for families with young children and for senior citizens.

“One of the anomalies of our district is we have a very high senior population rate,” Pointon said. “Between 20% and 25% of our population is over 60, especially since the population blew up in the ’90s and 2000s, and six 55-and-over communities were built in the area. That’s not a bad thing, but our outreach services for that group are just scratching the surface.”

To aid that outreach, and to expand that outreach to schools and early childhood development centers, Pointon said that the district would love to purchase a bookmobile, which it could take to different organizations and community events.

Rising cost of e-books

Finally, the library would invest funding into expanding its access to e-books and e-audiobooks.

“Our virtual services are really popular, but unfortunately, they’re also very expensive. Authors don’t write books for free, so we have to pay for our copies,” Pointon said. “The thing is, with a hard-copy book, we can buy one or two copies for $30 and rent them out again and again for years until they completely fall apart. The e-versions cost $80, and we can’t use them forever. The publishing houses don’t make it easy on libraries.”

The e-books and e-audiobooks are really expensive, and they can’t be used forever.

“Depending on the publisher, they either have limits on how many times a book can be checked out or how long the library can use it, and then it vanishes from our system and we have to buy it again,” Pointon said.

The library currently contracts with several services to gain access to e-books, e-audiobooks, e-magazines and even digital movie rental services.

Library patrons can download an app on their phone or tablet and create an account with their library card, which gives them access to the service’s virtual catalogue of books and other media.

When someone checks out a book virtually, they have access to it on their device for three weeks, and there are limits to how many people can have access to the title at one time.

“I don’t think this is a crazy ask,” Pointon said. “I hear from a lot of supporters who seem to think this has passed before, but I always tell people the last time the public voted for an increase was 1929. Even in the ’90s when our population was exploding we didn’t get an increase.

“People have asked me, ‘Can’t you tighten the belt and make due for a while?' And the truth is we started doing that in the ’90s, and now it’s as tight as it will go. We need to step up our game now as our demand keeps increasing.”

Pointon also emphasized the importance of the libraries to the community as they are “a collection everyone in the community shares for free” instead of everyone needing to purchase their own hard-copy media or streaming services.

“For every dollar we get in revenue, we provide over $5 in services. That’s better than a 5-to-1 return on investment for the community. I think it’s worth it,” he said.

Full details of the referendum can be found on the White Oak Library District website. The referendum will appear on ballots April 1 in Lockport, Crest Hill and Romeoville, as well as unincorporated areas within the White Oak Library District.

Voting “yes” on the referendum would approve the funding increase for the library district, and the extension of hours and services would start to take effect July 1, 2026.