By FRED KRONER
Want choices?
The Mahomet Public Library has you covered.
There are books, nearly 51,000 in total but with access to another three to four million.
If the physical books, that you hold in your hand and turn page by page aren’t your thing, there’s also a plethora of audio books.
A safe estimate is around 6.7 million that are either in the building on E. Oak Street or which can be ordered by library staff with delivery usually occurring within a few days.
This week, the focus nationally and locally is on libraries.
For the 68th consecutive year, the country is celebrating National Library Week.
John Howard, the director at the Mahomet Public Library for almost 6 ½ years, said, “we observe it in small ways, but we don’t go crazy.”
There will be mentions on their website and social media pages, but there won’t be much interruption to the working day.
On Tuesday (April 8), thanks to the Friends of the Library, the 18 staff members will receive a gift card to Culver’s.
Howard appreciates the annual focus on libraries.
“We are in a country where we have the freedom to read and learn about anything we want to,” he said. “In Stalinist Russia, there were certain books that if you were caught with, you would be put in jail.
“Mahomet is a community that loves its library. We feel very supported and that the community values us at a very high level, and values reading and learning.”
A problem which has surfaced in recent years in some communities – especially within the school system – has been avoided at the Mahomet Public Library.
“We have not had a single book challenged (a request for it to be banned) since I have been here,” Howard said. “People have not questioned the right to read in our community.
“They seem to understand that because it is not for you doesn’t mean it’s not for anybody.”
Each National Library Week has a theme. Appropriately, the one chosen for 2025 is “Drawn to Freedom.”
For Becca Strom, the youth services and programming librarian at Mahomet, the National Library Week event is a symbolic one.
“I see it as a celebration of the library and the services we offer,” Strom said. “We do so much more than books and it’s a way to advocate for ourselves.”
Among the other services at the library are programming and events – “there’s something for everyone,” Strom said — a notary service, a board game collection, and even mobile hot spots that can be loaned for a week to people who are traveling or otherwise need them.
Though Spring is less than a month old, there will be an assortment of Summer activities for both children and adults.
Those events will be kicked off on Saturday (May 24) with inflatables, carnival games and free food.
Let’s start with books, the cornerstone of libraries far and wide.
Howard estimates that at any given time, “five to 10 percent,” of the books are checked out. That leaves plenty of options for walk-ins.
Leading the way at the Mahomet Library is mystery novels, There are about 2,400 choices. Romance novels number around 1,500.
Graphic novels, Howard said, have “become really popular the last five-plus years.”
For those that have the need, there’s approximately 3,500 books in the large-print collection.
Not surprisingly, the most popular books remain stable from year to year.
“The greatest checkout is picture books for kids,” Howard said.
The genre gaining acceptance for adults, Howard said, is “thrillers.”
Of the books on the shelves at the Mahomet Public Library, around 7,700 are non-fiction.
The biggest trend is the interest in audio books.
“Audio books are having a moment,” Howard said. “More people are listening to books than at any point since I’ve been in the library world.”
Among adults, Howard said the most interest in audio books has been shown from people in the “20-to-40” age group.
It’s not just adults who are getting hooked.
Children are becoming fans.
“Most reading teachers agree that listening to books is reading,” Howard said. “You still have to imagine the situation.”
He said studies have shown that “listening to books lights up the same particular area in the brain as reading does.”
Of particular interest are entries in the Wonder Book series.
“There is an MP3 player embedded in the cover,” Howard said. “A child can read along and listen to the narrator.”
Howard understands the appeal of audio books. Some folks listen while doing mundane tasks at home such as the dishes or the laundry.
“I listen while mowing the grass,” Howard said. “I’m an audio book fan.”
Howard has an annual budget approaching $100,000 for the purchase of new books.
“About 60 percent of those are the physical books and the rest are the electronic version,” he said.
With new titles arriving on a somewhat regular basis, that means an additional task is necessary.
“When you buy titles, you have to make room on the shelves,” Howard said. “I call it ‘Weeding Wednesday.’ Most Wednesdays, I do a little weeding.”
He has a pattern to his selection process.
“Usually, it’s things that haven’t been checked out in two or three years,” he said.
Some of those books don’t have to travel far.
“We have an off-site shelf collection at a classroom we rent at Sangamon on Main,” Howard said.
Many of the books there – which he estimates at between 7,000 and 8,000 – aren’t just gathering dust.
“I send someone over once a day, Monday through Friday,” Howard said.
The employee often returns with five or six requested books, which figures out to more than 2,000 per year that make a reappearance at the main library.
The need to store books elsewhere reinforces one of the reasons for an issue facing library administrators and the Board of Directors.
“We’re struggling to fit into the building we have,” Howard said. “We’ve been in this lovely building (since 2010), but it remains half the size consultants (in 2006) thought we needed for the next 20 years.”
The first recommendation was for a 26,000-square foot building, but Mahomet voters rejected it. A subsequent proposal for a 13,000-square foot building was approved and it’s where the library is housed.
Howard said the Board has created a four-phase plan that would increase the square footage to about 26,000.
The first phase would create a much-needed separate children’s wing.
“Right now, people are wedged in after story time,” Howard said.
If constructed, the children’s area would be separated from the rest of the building by a glass wall, which Howard said, “would help with sound (reduction) in the regular building.”
The next phase would provide for a second meeting room, which would double the size of the Edgar Room.
“It could be used as two smaller meeting rooms or one larger one,” Howard said.
Demand for the Edgar Room is constant.
“We turn a lot of people away because it is booked,” Howard said.
The third phase would be the construction of an outside meeting room with a covered patio area.
“That would give us the ability to do outdoor programming,” Howard said.
The fourth phase would feature the construction of seven smaller study rooms as well as additional shelving units.
Estimates are for the cost to be $7.4 million, but Howard said that total could be deceiving.
“The plan is for not all of that from taxpayers,” he said. “If the timing works out, the possible proposition to the voters would involve little or no tax increase.
“If it’s at the tail end of the bonds we have now (final payment is scheduled for 2028), then we could have a smooth transition from one (bond) to the next.”
Ironically, for the past four years, Mahomet has qualified for a Public Library Construction Grant.
“That’s the good news,” Howard said. “The bad news is there’s no money in the program.”
Depending whether funds become available in the foreseeable future, Howard said it may be necessary to seek funding from the community or from private donations.
In any case, some changes are anticipated due to recent federal cuts.
The Mahomet Public Library works in conjunction with the Heartland Library System, which services the southern portion of Illinois.
Books that are unavailable locally, can be reserved and delivered to Mahomet, usually within a week if they are available elsewhere within the system.
“We get inter-library loans five days a week,” Howard said. ‘Usually we get between four and seven tubs, with each tub having about 20 books.
“That allows us to be tremendously efficient and saves me from buying a book that maybe I can get (from another library).”
The delivery service is free and is funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent agency of the United States federal government that was established in 1996.
However, Howard said that agency “has been defunded,” meaning that when the current budget year ends, deliveries “may be less efficient or happen less often.”
Mahomet could be less affected than libraries which are much smaller.
Howard said he knows one director whose annual budget for new book purchases is $500. It has been able to thrive, he said, because “there were thousands of titles available through the inter-library loans.”
For now, thoughts at Mahomet are turning to summer.
Strom said the structure for 2025 is “similar” to 2024, but added, “with all new activities and crafts.”
She has a busy schedule for June and July.
Following the Summer Kickoff Event (May 24) will be Family Fun Fridays in June from 10-11:30 a.m.
They are drop-in events, which do not require pre-registration.
“There will be outdoor craft events and special performances (such as an appearance by a magician),” Strom said.
Two big weekend events are slated, one for June 28 (from 1-3 p.m.) and the other on July 19 (also 1-3 p.m.). The first of the two events will be an indoor book character scavenger hunt. The second event will be a Pokemon Party.
Those events require registration and will likely be limited to about two dozen participants.
Elementary students can look forward to weekly story times as well as a bi-weekly art series. The teen events will include a Dungeons and Dragons event (new in 2025) and a Uno Tournament.
The adults will find programming as well.
Yoga on the Lawn will have dates in both June and July. There will be a Summer Mocktails lesson, where folks can learn to make some non-alcoholic beverages.
Other options for adults include a Tuesday Night book club (the second Tuesday) and a Crafternoon program (from 1-2:30) on the third Tuesday.
The recent Plan Swap at the library was so successful another has been added for July 12 from 11 a.m.-noon.
Though Strom and her staff come up with many of the summer ideas, they listen to suggestions.
“We incorporate ideas from the community, such as the Plant Swap,” Strom said. “The Dungeons and Dragons was added by community demand.”
For Strom, a 2016 Mahomet-Seymour graduate who has her master’s degree in Library Science, it’s nice to be working in the area where she was raised.
“I’m back where I started,” she said.
National Library Week started this year on Sunday (April 6) and continues through Saturday (April 12).
