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Elkhart Public Library District

121 East Bohan Street
217-947-2313

In 1888, Mrs. Lemira Gillett promised to give the citizens of Elkhart a library if they would vote the town dry for three years. This was done and a Library Association as formed in 1891. Miss Jessie Gillett carried out her mother's plans and our present building was built in 1904. We are now recognized by the State Historical Society as a historic business.

The Library is now a District Library, covering Elkhart and Hurlbut Townships. The interior was renovated, two restrooms were added and air-conditioning installed. The library owns three computers; for use in making catalog cards, circulating library materials, billing patrons, calculating inventory and producing annual reports of circulation; an lntel Pentium III for Internet access and for Word Processing. We also have two color printers, a scanner, a copier and a FAX machine.

The Library has over 8,000 books. We have a number of children, adult and non-fiction videos. We subscribe to 20 magazines and have a number of donated materials such as books on tape that can be checked out. The library also belongs to the Rolling Prairie Library System, from which we have access to millions of materials all over the state, country and world.