2025 Kindle Tablet Giveaway from Mid Century Fiber

Congratulations to Avigail Y., winner of our Kindle Tablet Giveaway!

Avigail was randomly selected from 81 amazing readers who logged 500+ minutes during our Summer Reading Program! Way to go, Avigail!

A huge thank you to Mid Century Fiber for generously donating the Kindle Tablet and supporting our community’s love of reading. 

Music in the Square - our 8th year!

The Lillie M. Evans Library District will be hosting our free concert series on three Fridays in June 2025. This is our 8th year providing these family-friendly concerts in Princeville’s Stevens Square. Please bring your own lawn chairs for your seating comfort or feel free to stay in your vehicle. This year, we’ll have food vendors at all events starting at 5pm. Music starts at 7pm so there is plenty of time to enjoy dinner and a show!

Music in the Square will lead off with the Roundstone Buskers on June 6th. This small Irish ensemble—consisting of Shannan Sullivan (fiddle, vocals), Tom Jones (bodhran, percussion, whistle, vocals) and Bruce Burton (guitar, bouzouki, vocals)—hails from the Peoria area. The trio has been pleasing crowds with its untraditional Celtic music since 2007. Top That and Tropical Sno will be serving in the Square from 5-8pm.

On June 13th, we will be hosting the Aristocrats. The Aristocrats are an eight piece band playing all of the "Big Band" favorites of yesterday and today. They perform arrangements made famous by the big bands of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s supplemented with contemporary jazz and popular tunes. At 5pm, the Station House and Kona Ice will start serving in the Square, and food will be available through 8pm.

For our final concert, we are pleased to welcome “Kelvis” on June 27th. Kevin Breitbarth, a winner of many regional and national Elvis impersonator competitions, will perform his Elvis tribute act. This is sure to be a fun night with great entertainment. In addition, the Princeville Aquatic Center will have pulled pork dinners in the Square from 5-8pm. This is a fundraiser for the ‘Save the Pool!’ fund, so come out and support this community organization!

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 moved to the Lillie M. Evans Library at 207 N. Walnut in Princeville. More information about this and other library programs can be found on the Lillie M. Evans Library website at lmelibrary.org.

Celebrate libraries at LME

Indie Lens Pop-Up and the Lillie M. Evans Library will host an event on Thursday, April 24^th at 6pm featuring a shortened, preview version of “Free for All: The Public Library” followed by a community discussion. Help us celebrate libraries with this free 1-hour premier in LME Library’s large meeting room. “Free for All: The Public Library” tells the story of the quiet revolutionaries who created a civic institution where everything is free and the doors are open to all.

As children, we took our local libraries for granted. They were as constant as the sun rising, as freely accessible as the air we breathed. Libraries felt like birthrights, alongside public schools, parks, and roads—part of the infrastructure of a thriving democracy. It wasn’t until we grew older, until life began to challenge those certainties, that we saw libraries in a different light.

The public library is one of America’s most valued yet endangered institutions. Director Dawn Logsdon travels the United States, discovering historic and modern-day figures, especially women, who contributed to the library’s integral position within democracy. “Free for All: The Public Library” chronicles the evolution of the nation’s public libraries, tracing the battles over who can enter, what belongs there, and who makes these decisions, while exploring how public commons are defined and defended.

Thanks to Independent Lens and our local PBS station, WTVP, for bringing this program and its resources to LME Library. All ages are welcome! The full length version of “Free for All: The Public Library” debuts on PBS on Tuesday, April 29. More information about this and other library programs can be found on the Lillie M. Evans Library website at lmelibrary.org.

Long Range Plans FY23-FY25

During the last year, the library staff and board worked together to develop our next long range plan. Some of you attended a focus group and others completed a survey. Community input was essential in the planning process, and we appreciated the support of both our users and non-users.

The LME Library developed a long-range plan with a series of objectives that support the vision that our community has presented. The FY23-FY25 plan has been adopted, and we look forward to implementing it.

Superior library service doesn’t just happen. To achieve excellence, you need a plan. Thank you to all who assisted in the process as we continue to seek new and better ways to serve our community.