Assuming that you are older than 45—dangerous assumption—do you remember what you were doing when you were 45?  Or, do you recall what was going on in your life 45 years ago?

Forty-five is not a magic number.  As anniversaries go, it offers no particular glamour.  Still, there’s something about five-year intervals of time that invite acknowledgement.

When I turned 45, I was the father of a five-month-old son. A few years earlier, I had received news from the eye doctor: I needed bifocals.  Or…45 years ago, I was 20, in college, and voted for the first time.  Won’t reveal for whom I voted.  Believe it or not, I grew up with warnings from my parents that I should never discuss politics—including for whom one voted—a woman’s age, or anyone’s income, in polite company.  Same for religion.  But moving right along...

In 1972, the Alpha Park Public Library added “District” to its name, following a March referendum.  The library, in a building now missing from the landscape on the east side of Airport Road, had been dedicated in December, 1971, with then-Lt. Governor Paul Simon attending.  (Later, he would speak at the dedication of the library’s addition on the west side of Airport Road, completed in 1995.)  All this, after initial groundwork for a library had begun in 1970, with volunteer outreach to residents of the Limestone Community High School District, later expanded to Illini Bluffs.

District status allowed the library to levy taxes, becoming an independent unit of local government with an elected board.  APL was better positioned to receive state and federal grants, and to participate more completely in continuing education and consulting for staff and trustees, provided by the State Library and the area Illinois Valley Library System. 

Lending and borrowing of books and other materials from libraries around the region, state, and country…membership in a large group of libraries using the same computerized system…these benefits, and more besides, became open to Alpha Park Library as it moved into district library status.

I noted above that, with advancing age, I faced new realities—bifocals!—and in the lead-up to 2017, the library has had to deal with age.  Thus, scaffolding and new walls, LED lights in the parking lot, and a brand-new parking lot for overflow/staff parking have unfolded before our eyes.  We’re not done yet.  As 2017 draws closer—I’m writing in 2016—plans may be afoot for modest celebrations of our birth-year as a district.  I can’t tell you what they are, as the “afoot” part hasn’t begun yet.  But stay tuned.

As always, thanks for supporting your public library.  We wouldn’t have made it to 45 without the public’s goodwill and hard work on Alpha Park’s behalf.