It was a dark and stormy night last Wednesday when the Evanston Library board met to discuss the fate of its long-standing used-book sale. You wouldn’t have guessed from the meager turnout that the cancellation of the quarterly event, and of the book-donation program that fueled it, has evoked some real passion in the community, especially among the volunteers who ran and staffed the sale, and worked year-round sorting a mountain of donations.
Eight months after that final sale, the $10.5 million renovation plan has been, um, shelved. The project was to be funded by a bond sale. That required approval by the Evanston City Council, which demurred. The city’s also rebuilding the Robert Crown Community Center, a $48 million project that includes a library branch, and the council feared that a second, simultaneous bond sale would be one too many. The main library renovation was put on hold for at least two years.
Also, he said, sometimes the materials had “critters and mold.” He’s gotten bites.
