Early Voting at LME Library on October 19

Election officials will have a dropbox for mail in ballots during early voting at the library on October 19. However, voters will need to come inside the building to deposit their ballots.

Visit peoriaelections.org for other locations and dates to vote.

Looking for information on the upcoming elections? Here’s some resources for Peoria County and Marshall County voters:

Peoria County Sample Ballot https://www.peoriaelections.org/201/Sample-Ballots

Marshall County Specimen Ballot http://marshallcountyillinois.com/elected-officials/county-clerkrecorder/election/

Find My Elected Officials https://www.elections.il.gov/electionoperations/districtlocator/AddressFinder.aspx

Find My Peoria County Board Member https://peoriacountygis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=a710586d1fb942bcbb82492df2c7289e

Marshall County Board Members http://marshallcountyillinois.com/elected-officials/county-board/

Illinois Courts Website http://illinoiscourts.gov

How To Vote In Illinois https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2020/how-to-vote/illinois/

Music in the Square Concert series in June 2020

The Lillie M. Evans Library District will be hosting our third annual free concert series in Princeville’s Stevens Square on the last three Fridays in June. The concerts will start at 7pm. Due to COVID-10 concerns, there will be no food or drink available at the Square this year. Please bring your own lawn chairs for your seating comfort or feel free to stay in your vehicle.

Music in the Square will feature the New Cats on June 12th. They fuse a mixture of high energy and uptempo new and traditional bluegrass & folk music, along with a handful of their own finely crafted tunes. The band members encompass a wide mixture of music backgrounds from jazz to punk and each bring their own unique flavor to the bluegrass genre.

On June 19th, we will be hosting P.S. Jazz. P.S. Jazz performs adult contemporary and jazz music for a variety of venues and settings. This Peoria area group provides a pleasurable listening experience that's easy on the ears and just right for whatever mood. Understated, smooth and sophisticated, they are perfect for settings where people enjoy good music, but also want to enjoy each other’s good company and conversation.

On June 26th, the Aristocrats will be entertaining us. The Aristocrats is a eight piece band playing all of the "Big Band" favorites of yesterday and today. The Band has a repertoire of arrangements made famous by the big bands of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s and is supplemented with contemporary jazz and popular tunes.

Steven’s Square is located on the corner of West Evans Street and IL-91 in Princeville. In case of inclement weather, the concert will be cancelled. More information about this and other library programs can be found on the Lillie M. Evans Library website at lmelibrary.org.

COVID-19 Update on 4/2/20

Due to the Governor’s “stay at home” order extension (Illinois Executive Order 2020-18), the library will be closed to the public until the end of April. We continue to monitor the directives provided by federal, state and local governments and encourage our library users to take measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

During this time our website is still open for business as usual. We appreciate your patience and we hope everyone is staying safe and healthy during these unprecedented times.   

The library building has been closed to the public since March 18, 2020. Closing the library was an extraordinarily difficult decision that we have made only because of these extraordinary circumstances. The health and safety of our patrons and staff is our first priority. Early actions to increase social distancing are the best way to contain the spread of COVID-19, according to the CDC. While we are closed, we will continue to carry out extra cleaning and disinfecting of the building.

We will stop charging all overdue fines and extend due dates on all currently checked out materials until May 10. Don’t feel the need to return anything while we are closed. Just stay home and enjoy!

You can also continue to use the library without visiting by downloading eBooks; listening to downloadable and streaming audiobooks; reading digital comics, newspapers, and magazines; learning a language; and much more. Stay connected with us on social media like facebook for more ideas for things to do with your library card, and ways to stay healthy and happy during this complicated time.

We look forward to seeing you online and in person again soon. We’d like to remind the public these service reductions are being done to slow down disease transmission. We are complying with the Governor's recommendations to "flatten the curve" as we work to balance the best interests of the Princeville community with efforts to contain the outbreak. 

The LME Library continues to be committed to creating an environment that is safe for our staff and users and minimizes the spread of infectious diseases, including COVID-19 (Coronavirus). We are taking these measures to share with you information about it and the steps we are taking to keep our users safe.

Resources:

The library has created a resource list and will continue to add to it as more resources are located. We have put it on our website under RESOURCES | CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES  http://lmelibrary.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=736&Itemid=267

We have already posted some information on our Librarian’s Blog. The first post was on March 10, 2020 http://librarylill.blogspot.com/2020/03/coronavirus-covid-19.html

What LME Library is doing to help prevent the spread of any infectious diseases:

We are currently following the recommendations and guidelines set forth by the Centers for disease Control (CDC) and the Peoria City/County Health Department (PCCHD). We are also following the Illinois Department of Public Health's (IDPH) guidelines for Preventing COVID-19 Spread in Communities and frequently reviewing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's information for workers.

What you can do to help:

Your help is greatly appreciated to help minimize the spread of disease. Here are some simple steps you can take to help.

1. Leave home only for essential activities. (see Illinois Executive Order 2020-10)
2. Practice social distancing.
3. Wash hands frequently using the World Health Organzation (WHO) video on hand washing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PmVJQUCm4E
4. Practice good hygiene by regularly disinfecting frequently touched surfaces and avoid touching your face.  
5. Cover your coughs or sneezes.
6. Stay home if you are sick or have sick family members at home.

There are additional practices in this handout from the CDC on Keeping workplaces, homes, schools, or commercial establishments safe. 

We'll continue to keep the public informed as the pandemic progresses. Stay safe and stop the spread.

Coronavirus : COVID-19

We've been monitoring the Coronavirus news and we want our library users to be well informed with reliable sources. We've pulled together some resources about the coronavirus and have put on our website under RESOURCES | CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES http://lmelibrary.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=736&Itemid=267

In the meantime, we continue to monitor the Center for Disease Control's recommendations for pandemic preparedness and response plans including providing specific guidance on measures to prepare communities to respond to local spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. We are also following the Illinois Department of Public Health's guidelines for Preventing COVID-19 Spread in Communities and frequently reviewing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's information for workers.

The LME Library's website provides many additional resources for library users. We have online subscription databases that can be used with your LME Library card and PIN and have developed other online resources, internet links and pathfinders.  Please visit the library's website at lmelibrary.org or go directly to the dropdown resources list at http://lmelibrary.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33&Itemid=110.  

New video promoting libraries

Just in time for Library Lovers Day, actor Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation, Making It, Good Omens) stars in this video, created by Chicago marketing firm Imagination for our library system, RAILS. The Reaching Across Illinois Library System (RAILS) wants to celebrate the passion for libraries through The Wizard of the World Wide Web.

The Wizard of the World Wide Web is growing desperate. Can the Internet regain control of the world's knowledge needs when libraries reign supreme? 

More information can be found on My Library Is ... for Library Lovers page at https://www.mylibraryis.org/librarylovers. While there, you can take the Library Lovers Quiz!

A very special thank you to Mr. Offerman for his time, talent, and generosity.

RSAcat Mobile app

Want to access the library’s catalog from your mobile device? You can with the new RSAcat Mobile app!  It available for both Android and Apple devices. The RSAcat Mobile app means accessing our catalog is more convenient than ever. Head to the Apple or Google Play Stores, install the free app, and log in with your LME library card and PIN.  (Don't know your PIN?  Contact us at 385-4540 and we'll reset it for you!)

The much improved app makes it easy to manage your account, search the catalog, renew checkouts, and place holds. You can also scan the ISBN barcode on the back of a book to see if we have a copy, receive notifications for holds or fees, or search for nearby libraries. The RSAcat Mobile app also features improved accessibility for VoiceOver and larger text sizes.

Brand new features include the ability to link multiple accounts and manage them from the app, so that a parent can link their children’s accounts. Patrons can now also pay fines or bills directly from the app.

Wi-Fi hotspots from the library

With high-speed internet access hard to find in many of Illinois’ rural areas, some public libraries are trying something new: letting patrons check out free wireless hotspots that can connect to the internet just about anywhere.

Recently the public libraries in Princeville and Brimfield received hotspot grants as part of the DigitalLead: Rural Libraries Creating New Possibilities project.  The Lillie M. Evans Library in Princeville received 7 mobile hotspot devices while the Brimfield Public Library District received 10 devices.  Both received free wireless coverage for each device for a one-year period.

This grant was provided by the Public Library Association and Microsoft Corp. to help rural populations reap the benefits of broadband internet connectivity.  Rural libraries are critical for communities to achieve digital access and skills and the resultant employment, economic, educational, and health benefits, often providing the only free access to computers, the Internet, and training in their regions.

The devices connect to the Sprint 4G LTE network and create a Wi-Fi network, allowing users to connect up to 10 Wi-Fi-enabled computers or electronic devices.  Patrons must have a library card in good standing, sign a Hotspot Patron Agreement Form and reside within the library district.  More information can be found on each library’s website. For LME Library, go to http://bit.ly/LMEhotspots

The United States as a whole has fallen behind other developed countries in internet download speeds.  According to a recent Microsoft study, 162.8 million people do not use the internet at broadband speeds, and almost 66 million people have low levels of digital readiness, according to the American Library Association. Libraries provide essential services to populations most affected by these challenges, particularly rural and low-income communities.