Public Library Branch Will Open At Obama Presidential Center

CHICAGO, IL — The Obama Presidential Center in Chicago will not include a traditional government-run library. Instead, it will be home to a Chicago Public Library branch. Officials with the Obama Foundation and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel made the joint announcement Wednesday.

Having a public library at a presidential center is a "first of its kind" partnership, Emanuel said in a news release. No completed presidential center includes a public library branch.

“The Chicago Public Library branch at the Obama Presidential Center will offer tremendous educational and cultural benefits to the South Shore community and all of Chicago,” he said. “In the spirit of Barack and Michelle Obama, this branch will serve as a neighborhood anchor with 21st century learning opportunities and shared spaces that will bring together community residents to gather, share and succeed for generations to come.”

Robbin Cohen, executive director at the Obama Foundation, says the benefit of the partnership is two-fold.

“With a partnership with CPL, we realized we could both address the need for a library in this neighborhood, and give young people in the area a fun and educational way to engage with the Obama Presidential Center.”

Emanuel said the branch will serve the South Side community in numerous ways, which include offering a vast multimedia collection, spaces for reading, study and homework help, a children's area, teen program and help for job seekers.

The CPL branch will be part of the presidential center that will be built in Jackson Park and slated to open sometime in 2021.

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