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DeKalb Library Work Scheduled To Begin In May

Work on the expansion project is expected to begin as early as May 19. Architects provided an update to library officials this week. Library Director Dee Coover estimates the construction will last 18 months. The library is expected to remain open during the work, but she says patrons will begin noticing covered walkways around the entrance to the children's department.

She says workers will start moving materials in May, with "true" construction in mid-July.

"We are going to embrace this. We are going to have trucks maybe as our summer reading theme," Coover said.

Coover says in order to get construction started,  the library borrowed $3 million from three local banks. The loans must be repaid within three years. Coover says the library will continue holding fundraising events for the project to pay off those loans.

The library received an $11.6 million state grant to pay for 48,000 square feet of land next to the current building. It also allows the library to remodel the current building.

Jenna Dooley has spent her professional career in public radio. She is a graduate of Northern Illinois University and the Public Affairs Reporting Program at the University of Illinois - Springfield. She returned to Northern Public Radio in DeKalb after several years hosting Morning Edition at WUIS-FM in Springfield. She is a former "Newsfinder of the Year" from the Illinois Associated Press and recipient of NIU's Donald R. Grubb Journalism Alumni Award. She is an active member of the Illinois News Broadcasters Association and an adjunct instructor at NIU.
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