Oak Lawn Library Board Refutes Campaign 'Lies And Distortions'

OAK LAWN, IL —The following is a statement from the Oak Lawn Public Library Board of Trustees:

We are writing this letter in response to the many comments we have seen in campaign materials and social media posts from the new candidates running for the Oak Lawn Library Board.

If you want to elect people whose primary goal is to increase the library budget – and your taxes – you can pick from any of these new candidates.

However, if you prefer knowledgeable, creative, and experienced professionals to be stewards of your tax dollars and take the Oak Lawn Public Library in new and exciting directions, you already have that in our fellow board members Roseann Spoto and Suzanne Marzano who are seeking re-election.

Every current library board trustee ran for office to make the library one of the best in the Southland, if not the state.

We promised to be more efficient with the taxpayer's money that funds our library, and to eliminate waste wherever we found it.

We promised to adapt to the ever-changing technologies that have dramatically altered library attendance and also offerings that people want and use. Services like Netflix, Amazon Books, Spotify and Apple Music are changing the way people use the library.

That is what we committed to do, and that is what we have done, even in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, and despite the false claims made by many people running for the library board.

These new candidates complain that we had fewer in-person programs, which was mandated by state law.

They complain that we cut the budget, apparently not realizing that the Covid-19 pandemic caused an 85 percent drop in library visitors, in addition to 20 million job losses and thousands of business closings.

They claim that we reduced library services and programs, which is false since we actually added services, such as curb-side pick-up which allows residents to get books delivered right to their car door.

They claim that we were unfair to our employees and staff, which is also false. We kept our entire library staff safe and paid despite being closed most of last year. We also hired an experienced new director who is taking the library in exciting new directions.

And perhaps most amazingly, they are attacking incumbents Roseann Spoto and Suzanne Marzano for adapting our offerings and making badly needed budget cuts that we put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Roseann Spoto and Suzanne Marzano are exactly the type of elected officials Oak Lawn needs because they not only believe in keeping the library strong, but also adapting our approach to the ever-changing environment we live in, and always with the community foremost in our minds.

Oak Lawn Library Board President Sue Whisson,
Vice President Pat O'Donnell
Financial Secretary Joe Skibinski
and Trustee Sean Kelly