Oak Park Villager of the Year runner-up: Deirdre Brennan

Oak Park library director embraces digital content, access for all

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 10:00 PM

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Deirdre Brennan

Complete Villager of the Year coverage

Oak Park Villager of the Year

• Peter Traczyk

Runners-up

• Sophia Lloyd 
• Jim Kelly
• Deirdre Brennan

 

River Forest Villager of the Year

• John Rigas

Runners-up

• John Phelan
• Donna Carroll

By Marty Stempniak

Staff Reporter

By all accounts, 2011 was a red-letter year for the Oak Park Public Library, as the institution earned praise, both locally and nationally.

That included a four-star designation from the Library Journal, along with earning high marks on a survey of Oak Park residents. And at the top of the organization receiving so much praise is Deirdre Brennan, a River Forest resident and executive director of the library since 2006.

The library landscape is changing rapidly, and Oak Park's has responded without hesitation, rolling out more and more digital content to satisfy the masses.

"Things have changed so fast," Brennan said. "The change in the role of e-content, in just a year, is incredible. So you really can't sit around in meetings for a year and figure out what to do; you've got to just do it. And if it doesn't work, you tweak it and try it a little differently."

Last year was the first in which the library received the coveted four-star designation from the Library Journal, a century-old publication thatv's been ranking libraries for the past four years. In Oak Park's community survey, the results of which were released in November, some 86 percent of respondents said they used the library at least once over the past 12 months, and 96 percent rated the institution as "excellent" or "good."

Other notable happenings at the library in 2011 included three staff members winning awards from the Illinois Library Association, circulation continuing to "go up like mad" and the launch of a new website.

As for 2012, the library is searching for grant dollars to build a "digital media lab" where residents can use high-tech items, from video cameras to iPads. They'll continue leading conversations with other government bodies, trying to find ways to make Oak Park a more "digitally inclusive" community (an estimated 41 percent of library users don't have access to computers at home). And the library will continue its "Spark" project, gathering input from the community to keep changing with the times.

"You've got to create the culture and set the tone for people feeling good about taking chances and trying new things," the 58-year-old Brennan said of the philosophy she's brought to the library.