Library Cards | Gifts and Memorials | Library Board | Long Range Plan | Library Facts

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Library Cards
Anyone living in Pekin or owning propery within city limits is eligible for a free library card and may apply for one at the circulation desk. Non-residents may purchase a family card for $80 per year.

Gifts and Memorials
Gifts to the library can serve as remembrance of an individual or a special event such as a birthday or anniversary, or simply as a way to better the library. Gift contributions may be made to the "Adult Endowment Fund" or to the "Josephine Goldsmith Endowment Fund" for children's materials. Donations are recorded in gift books housed in both Adult and Children's Services, and families are notified of gift memorials.

Library Board
Pekin Public Library is an instrumentality of the City of Pekin, Illinois. It is governed by a nine-member Board of Trustees appointed to three-year staggered terms by the Mayor. They employ a Director who manages the operations of the Library.

Library Board Members
Vickie Koch, President
Carrie Allen, Vice President
Leslie Leitner, Secretary
J. Scott Plotner, Treasurer
Tim Williams
Sue Crowell
Randy Turner
Thomas Cullen
Jason Juchems

Commitees

• Building & Grounds: Chairperson: Williams, Plotner, Turner
• Community Relations: Chairperson: Allen, Crowell, Cullen
• Finance: Chairperson: Plotner, Koch, Cullen
• Library Services: Chairperson: Turner, Allen, Crowell, Williams
• Personnel: Chairperson: Leitner, Koch

The Library Board meets the fourth Tuesday of each month at 5 p.m. at the Library. Meetings are open to the public. For a board agenda and meeting minutes, please click here.

Library Director
Jeff Brooks

Long Range Plan
In November 2003, the library invited 15 community members to provide input on the community needs and how the library could fulfill those needs, in order to develop a 5-year plan to carry the library though 2009.
During the discussion the team was split into small groups and asked to identify the key community priorities and needs. Following a discussion of the key community needs, team members selected the top four community needs. The group felt resources to help young families was an important need. Discussion also centered on creating a place where people want to stay, and better paying jobs. Participants felt the library could be a resource provider and community center that would help tie the community together for a common goal.
From these needs the planning team suggested three service responses for the library focus. Service responses provide library planners with a way of linking identified community needs with specific library services and programs.
Pekin Public Library’s service responses are: Commons, Lifelong Learning and Current Topics and Titles.
Using the planning team’s definitions as a guide, along with the top four community needs identified by the planning team, library staff developed goals for each objective, which were approved by the Library Board of Trustees. The staff developed objectives for each goal. View the complete text of the plan.

Library Facts

Population Served: 33,857 (population of the City of Pekin)
Number of Cardholders: 15,839
Annual Circulation: 279,364
Annual Door Count: 177,636
Children’s Program Attendance: 12,577
Books Owned by the Library: 126,534
Number of Staff: 26

The Library is located at 301 S. Fourth Street, Pekin, IL 61554. The library sits at the corner of Broadway and Fourth Street in downtown Pekin, 2 blocks south of the Tazewell County Courthouse. The current library was built in 1974.