The Round Lake (Ill.) Area Library will open a digital publishing lab this June featuring high-end computers, scanners, printers, digital cameras, and desktop-publishing software. The facility aims at enabling patrons to publish pamphlets, develop Internet sites, or preserve family memories. Library Director Paul Deane said in the May 1 Arlington Heights Daily Herald, “It will be a good thing for small businesses. It might help the community in the area of economic development.”
An Illinois State Library grant of $9,500 will pay for half of the estimated cost, while the library will pay the other half. Pat McGuckin, ISL manager of communications, said that the lab is a natural outgrowth of any library’s mission. “A lot of libraries are moving to that neck of the woods . . . because their patrons are demanding it,” he said.
In the Round Lake area, Deane said, a lab like this will be especially valuable to students who may not have access to this kind of technology in their schools. “We’re targeting the students in the community. We’re hoping we can develop groups for youths and adults, not just for training how to use the equipment, but about writing, graphics, communications, and information.”
American Library Association Press Officer Larra Clark noted that few public libraries offer a lab like this. “I think what’s happening in Round Lake,” she said, “speaks to many of the changing uses libraries are offering their patrons.”
Posted May 6, 2002.