The campaign to save Illinois Libraries officially began at the ILA Annual Conference in Peoria on October 8th at 10:30 a.m. Secretary of State, Jesse White, addressed a gathering of librarians from across the state in the exhibit area of the conference.
The campaign runs from October 8, 2009 to October 23, 2009. The timing is critical because members of the Illinois General Assembly will reconvene for a Veto Override session on Wednesday October 14th. This session could last as long as two weeks.
Below is a brief video of images taken during Secretary White's address along with some images of the exhibits at the convention.
During his address Secretary White endorsed the campaign to secure the future of Illinois libraries. White noted that libraries are struggling to cope with unprecedented usage while facing budget cuts. He told the Illinois library community to ask legislators to commit to libraries by taking a pledge to oppose any additional cuts to library per capita grants in FY 2010.
Secretary White was presented with an award from the Illinois Library Association for his leadership in instituting the Barack Obama license plate initiative, as well as for helping to promote Illinois libraries.
