Carol Stream Public Library

I visited this library this morning.  Carol Stream Public Library has kind of an exciting recent history to it. For decades, an anti-library faction in the village fought tooth and nail to stop the library from getting a referendum passed for more money. This forced the library to stay in a space with zero room for growth, and endure awkward indignities like having ugly orange carpeting that was decades old.

And then the anti-library faction went a step further and got some of its members on the library board. They were in a position to dismantle everything that was pure and good about Carol Stream -- until the next election cycle, when they got trounced. Pro-library trustees won their seats, they finally got their referendum passed, and now are planning the new library they will be able to build at last.

In the meanwhile, the library does an amazing job of managing the space they have. The interior has gone through some major renovations to try and maximize space.  And then they do fun stuff like this -- taking what space they have and shaping it to whatever theme they want to make out of it.

And I mean all the space -- those "castle aisles" go all the way down to the far end of the building!

There are other things to like about Carol Stream Public Library. They have an amazing collection of TV series on DVD. They just recently started offering free faxing.  They also have a great location, being right next to beautiful Armstrong Park.