Northern Illinois Libraries Consolidating Into New Library System

The five library systems in northern Illinois will merge next week into one consolidated system, Reaching Across Illinois Library System.

Effective July 1, RAILS will be formed by the consolidation of DuPage and Kane counties' DuPage Library System, Cook and DuPage counties' Metropolitan Library System, the North Suburban Library System, the far southwest territory's Alliance Library System and the Prairie Area Library System, which serves 20 counties including Will, Kendall and Grundy.

Currently falling under the scope of the Metropolitan Library System,  Administrator Susan McNeil-Marshall says the change is a way for libraries to restructure their administration without affecting services for users.

"Things are changing all the time, so it will get more organized," she said. "There won't be any interruption of service. We just want to alert people of the new name because it's not MLS anymore."

Though the merging of library systems will not affect the public, the change will make a difference behind the scenes. With the merger, officials say the libraries will reorganize their infrastructure, create a new board for RAILS, and be able to coordinate more cost-efficient delivery systems.

According to McNeil-Marshall, one year of delivery systems for MLS can cost upwards of $750,000, but with the merger, a new and more sustainable business model will help alleviate the costs.

In fact, funding issues in the state in the past two years led to the initial idea of consolidation. Metropolitan Library System Director Su Bochenski says the idea to merge came about because of financial issues.

"I think the most significant reason why the merger talks started to happen were the financial crises that Illinois found itself in," Bochenski said. "Merging administrative, governmental entities can help provide some administrative consolidation and hopefully cost savings."

Officials say the merger also will benefit smaller libraries, which often face difficulties keeping up with service when faced with lack of funding.

"If systems aren't being funded by the state, for many small libraries and towns, that would have been hard," McNeil-Marshall said.

Headquartered in Burr Ridge, RAILS will represent more than 3,700 libraries and provide services to about 1,500 public, private, university and school library members, according to the Merger Design Team website.

During the next year, the board for the new system will work to make a smooth transition.

"At this point, they're just trying to reorganize," McNeil-Marshall said. "Everything is in a state of flux."

McNeil-Marshall also says that if any major changes take place for the system, the public will be notified, but otherwise, the change in organization of the libraries will not affect services. Bochenski added that in general, the merge is for the libraries to communicate and work together more effectively.

"It's to provide a consolidation of services to be able to lower costs and to provide more consistent services to the libraries of the northern half of Illinois," Bochenski said.

For more information on the merger, visit the Merger Design Team website or contact your local library.