Issue date: 10/16/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: Alex Reside Bloomington Public Library located in downtown Bloomington off of Olive Street has been recently remodeled.

Regardless of where one might stand, there is never a library out of reach in Bloomington-Normal. These two cities are home to some of the best libraries in the area.

In addition to several smaller libraries, the Twin Cities are home to four full-scale facilities. The two major universities each have libraries and both towns each have public libraries of their own.

Most ISU students are very familiar with the hub of the majority of books on campus: Milner Library. Milner houses countless resources for students and members of the community. For instance, their total number of electronic journals adds up to 22,659 subscriptions.

"We are divided by subjects. Each subject has its own floor and its own librarian that is knowledgeable in that specific subject area," Toni Tucker, assistant to the Dean of University Libraries, said.

The library is in a bit of a transitional period, however. Students may have noticed the construction phase occurring inside.

"What we're doing right now is we are closing floor one of the library, which was our education floor," Tucker said. "We're doing that because there were so many leaks under the plaza that it was harmful to our employees and it was damaging materials. We have moved the teaching materials center up to floor six. Over the next couple of months all the education materials will also be moved."

That means that when ISU students return for the spring semester, floor one will be closed to the public. It will then only be used to store low-use items.

Milner Library is constantly improving their online resources, keeping up with the times and allowing students stay ahead.

"In reality, our collections are growing, but they're growing in a different way," Tucker said.

Also, believe it or not, Williams Hall is completely free of any books in storage.

"We have vacated that facility and those materials have moved to a new location on Warehouse Road," Tucker said.

The other nearby university library is the Ames Library at Illinois Wesleyan University. Named after alumni B. Charles Ames and his wife Joyce Eichhorn Ames, this library contains five floors of materials and exhibits, not including their online resources.

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