Dear editor:
In his February 4 Reader article on the Chicago Public Library, Ben Joravsky, quoting a survey by “Chicago Public Library Advocates,” a self-proclaimed watchdog group from two north-side libraries, states that many of Chicago’s neighborhood libraries are “in dire need of renovation or repairs.” Certainly more renovation is needed for the City’s libraries, but the criticism completely ignores a neighborhood library building program which former Commissioner John Duff once described as the most ambitious and successful of any American city. As onetime President of the Friends of the Chicago Public Library, the largest of the Library support groups, I witnessed much of this achievement.
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From 1985 until the present, over a dozen new full-service branch libraries were built to replace storefront operations; more than a dozen older libraries were completely renovated or enlarged. Most of the new building occurred on the west and south sides–a fact that has chagrined some of the so-called Advocates–but on the north side new libraries appeared at Sulzer Regional and Uptown, and complete renovations or enlargements took place at Logan Square, Lake View, North Austin, and Portage-Cragin.
Hope Daniels N. Sedgwick
