Joliet Libraries No Longer Official 'Warming Centers' for City

The Joliet Public Library has removed itself from the list of city warming shelters because of the confusion caused when it's forced to close during inclement weather, officials said.

While the two libraries -- located at 150 N. Ottawa St. and 3395 Black Road -- will still be open to anyone who needs to get out from the cold, library Director Kevin Medows told the Joliet Herald-News it did not want to misrepresent itself as being a resource when it might not be available.

“That’s a key point that needs to be made,” Medows said told the paper. “The library is not a shelter. We were always under the agreement that we could still close.”

The libraries' closure earlier this month because of snow and sub-zero temperatures became a source of criticism by some who believed they should remain open because they were included on the city's official list of "warming centers."

That changed Thursday, when the city issued a warning about the frigid temperatures and did not include the libraries on the list for the first time. The other warming centers, including Louis Joliet Mall during business hours, MorningStar Mission and Daybreak Shelter, remain on the list.

“We don’t want people to think that we are part of the emergency plan for the city,” Medow told the Herald News.