The Schaumburg Township Library District (S.T.L.D.) serves approximately 130,000 residents of Schaumburg Township in parts of the northwestern Chicago suburbs of Schaumburg, Hanover Park, Hoffman Estates, Elk Grove Village, and Streamwood in Cook County. It formerly also served part of Roselle. Schaumburg Township is a civil township in Cook County. The town of Schaumburg is twenty-five miles northwest of Chicago’s Loop and eight miles northwest of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. A small part of Schaumburg, a large part of Hanover Park, and most of Streamwood outside Cook County are instead served by the Poplar Creek Public Library District, based in Streamwood, Illinois. Today, the S.T.L.D. serves a population of more than 134,000 people. It operates three libraries, the Central Library in Schaumburg and two branch libraries in Hanover Park and Hoffman Estates. The Schaumburg Township Library District, founded in 1963, is the second largest public library in the state after the Chicago Public Library.
In the Fiscal Year 2004-2005, the Schaumburg Township District Library served a population of 129,839 people, of whom 101,693 had library cards (78.3% of the population). At that time, the S.T.D.L. owned 506,732 books, 428 e-books, 49,749 videotapes and DVDs, 55,084 audio recordings, eighty databases, 1,200 print and microfilm subscriptions, and 176,287 children’s holdings. It had a total of 372 computers, 183 of which were for public use and 191 for use by staffers. The public computers were used 794,892 times. Out of 175 staff members, there were more than twenty-two librarians on staff, 100% of whom had M.L.S. degrees. There were more than 131 employees who were technical or clerical staffers, and there were more than twenty-one pages or shelvers. The S.T.D.L. was open eighty-one hours per week. The children’s program attendance was 47,126. It lent 2,651,342 items in FY 2004-2005 (or at least lent items 2,651,342 times). The S.T.D.L. had $10,466,674 in local income, $260,459 in state income, no federal income, and $889,259 in income from other sources, for a total income of $11,616,392. The total income per capita was $89.47. Expenditures included $5,909,754 on salaries, $1,273,744 on benefits, $794,689 on print materials, $274,493 on electronic materials, $344,957 on other materials, and $2,118,708 on other things, so it spent $10,716,345.
The History of the Schaumburg Township District Library (1958-1988)
As with the public libraries in Chicago, Evanston, Aurora, Riverside, La Grange, and Waukegan, the Schaumburg Township Public Library was preceded by a private library. The first step toward foundation, in 1958, of a library was the establishment of an exploratory committee. In 1960, the Fox River Valley Regional Library Association’s bookmobile began to serve Schaumburg Township. The next year, the Arthur Hammerstein Library opened in Hoffman Elementary School. The library was named in honor of the composer, producer, and theater owner Arthur Hammerstein (1872-1955), a son of composer and theater impresario Oscar Hammerstein I (1847-1919) and uncle of writer and theatrical producer Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960). Hammerstein and his second wife, silent film star Dorothy Dalton (1893-1972), owned a farm in what is now Hoffman Estates for eleven years until they sold it in 1954 to Jack Hoffman of F & S Construction, the company that developed Hoffman Estates. Their farmhouse became the first Hoffman Estates Village Hall.
Residents of Schaumburg Township voted, in 1962, to establish a tax-supported Schaumburg Township Public Library. In 1963, it opened in a house near the intersection of Roselle Road and Schaumburg Road – coincidentally close to the present-day location of the Central Library. The S.T.D.L. opened for the first on January 3, 1963 with a collection of 6,000 volumes. Two year later, in 1965, a new public library building was built on Library Lane and opened. Three years later, in 1968, the basement was finished and the Children’s Department opened. In 1970, a referendum that authorized the expansion of the library building passed by a margin of five to three. The first addition to the Schaumburg Township Public Library building was completed in 1972.
Four years later, in 1976, the Hoffamn Estates Branch Library, the Schaumburg Township Public Library’s first branch, opened. In 1981, voters approved an increase in the Schaumburg Township Public Library’s property tax rate to .295.
In 1983, the residents of that part of Elk Grove Village, which is in Schaumburg Township, voted to keep being served by the Schaumburg Township Public Library. Four years later, in 1987, a second addition to the Central Library was completed. The next year, voters approved the transformation of the Schaumburg Township Public Library into the Schaumburg Township District Library.
The S.T.D.L. was a member of the North Suburban Library System (NSLS). The NSLS ceased to exist on July 1, 2011 when it merged with the Metropolitan Library System (MLS), the DuPage Library System (D.L.S.), the Alliance Library System (A.L.S.), and the Prairie Area Library System (P.A.L.S.) to form a super-system that initially covered all of Northern Illinois (other than the Chicago Public Library), part of Central Illinois, and three counties in eastern Iowa: the Reaching Across Illinois System (R.A.I.L.S.).
The Schaumburg Township District Library celebrated its fiftieth anniversary twice in 2012. The first time was on Saturday, January 21, 2012. The second time was on Sunday, April 15, 2012, when the S.T.D.L. combined a celebration of the golden anniversary of its foundation with National Library Week (April 8-14, 2012).
Figure 1 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This was an example of a fiftieth anniversary banner that hung outside the Hoffman Estates Branch of the Schaumburg Township District Library in 2012.
In 2012, during Women’s History Month Celebration at the Chase Tower Auditorium in Chicago, the S.T.P.L.’s Literacy Coordinator Pat Barch was one of nine women to be named Outstanding Women in Education. This is an annual award program sponsored by the Honorable Dorothy Brown, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County; The Clerk’s Office Women’s Advisory Committee; and the Chase Women of Color Employee Network Group. Ms. Barch had worked at the S.T.P.L. for twenty-eight years as Assistant to the Director of Circulation and Literacy Coordinator. She is in charge of the English as a Second Language (E.S.L.) program and Read to Learn program, and is hostess for the Conversation Club, which meets to allow immigrants to learn American idioms and customs, as well as to converse about current events. For twelve years, she had been volunteer historian for the Village of Hoffman Estates. In this position, she wrote the Historian’s Notebook column for the village government’s Citizen Newsletter.
The Schaumburg Township District Library was once again the recipient of a Five-Star Rating in the 2013 Library Journal (LJ) Index of Public Library Service, according to Library Executive Director Stephanie Sarnoff. The LJ Index is a national rating system designed to recognize and promote America’s public libraries, to help improve the pool of nationally collected library statistics, and to encourage library self-evaluation. Scores are based on library visits, circulation, program attendance, and public Internet computer use.
“We are thrilled to receive this honor once again,” Ms. Sarnoff said. “Maintaining a five-star status truly requires input from all facets of the library. We are privileged to have board members who are supportive, fiscally responsible and passionate about the library’s mission. We are equally fortunate to have a staff that cares about our library users and is constantly working to keep our resources, programs and services relevant to the community’s wants and needs.”
Ms. Sarnoff cited the variety of children’s programs, Teen Place, and computer stations and classes. She also cited adult programming targeting personal finances, the Affordable Care Act, travel, health, cooking and more as just some of the reasons for the prestigious rating.
Earlier in November of 2013, Ms. Sarnoff announced the new Deputy Director of the S.T.D.L. would be Monica Harris, formerly of the Oak Park Public Library in west suburban Oak Park, Illinois. Ms. Harris was presented with the Library Journal Mover and Shaker award for being an innovator in 2010 and was recognized as a Fellow of the Inaugural Public Library Association Leadership Academy in March of this year. Her specialties include customer service, new media, and collection development. “We are so excited to have Monica bring her extensive public library experience,” Ms. Sarnoff said. “Her background in customer service, staffing, training and new technology for libraries will be a great asset to STDL.”
The S.T.D.L. served in excess of 134,000 residents in portions of the municipalities Elk Grove Village, Hanover Park, Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg, and Streamwood. With over 1,000,000 visitors each year, the S.T.D.L. circulated over 2,000,000 items annually and is the second largest public library in the state of Illinois.
The Schaumburg Township Library District’s Central Library
The Central Library is located at 130 South Roselle Road in Schaumburg. In 1995 a referendum passed that authorized the new Central Library’s construction. Two years later, the S.T.L.D. broke ground in the shopping mall Town Square of Schaumburg (at the southwest corner of Schaumburg and Roselle Roads in downtown Schaumburg) for its construction. The 166,500-square-foot Central Library opened in 1998. The building is a large example of the Prairie School style of architecture that is worth a visit by fans of the Prairie School.
On the ground floor, one will find the Lobby, Circulation, the Café, public restrooms, and three departments. The Lobby is closer to the Back Entrance than the Front Entrance. The Café and public restrooms can be accessed directly from the vestibule that connects the Back Entrance to the Lobby. Circulation branches off the Lobby, and is to the south of it. In the Lobby, one will find the Reception Desk, the EZ Pay Machine, and Electric Scooters. One can also access the elevator and stairs here to ascend to the second floor. In Circulation, one will find the L-shaped Check-In and Check-Out Desk, Self-Check-Out, and the Library Cards Desk. On December 28, 2016, the Lobby and Audiovisual Theatre re-opened as The Commons.
In the vestibule, one will see the bronze sculpture Computing the Future by J. Seward Johnson. This is a bronze statue of a man seated with his right leg crossed over his left, reading a book. Visitors often pose for pictures whilst seated next to the statue. The S.T.L.D. states, “The lifelike detailing [of the statue’s clothing] is the result of hours of intense labor resulting in realistic looking clothing, hair and skin made entirely of bronze. Textures that imitate corduroy, tweed or a cable knit sweater pattern are made with an electric tool that is much like a fine dentist’s drill. This is the most time consuming part of creating these bronzes. It takes between one and two years for Johnson to create one sculpture.”
One of the three departments one can access from the Lobby is New Books & Fiction. This is north of the Café and public restrooms. [This is now Cafenios Library Café.] In this department, one will find the 1st Floor Gallery Wall; the Readers’ Advisory Desk; the Quiet Reading & Fireplace area; Large Type; Paperbacks; Fiction, Mystery, and Sci-Fi; Recently Returned books; and the Paperback Exchange. It features Persian Wall, a glass sculpture in pieces by Tacoma, Washington-based artist Dale Chihuly. His glass sculptures can be seen in the Bellagio resort in Las Vegas and the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas, as well as the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Thousands of people went to see Chihuly’s 2002 exhibition at the Chicago Park District’s Garfield Park Conservatory.
The Youth Services Department is northwest of the Lobby. Here, one will find the Original Illustrations Gallery, The Enchanted Forest, Kids’ Audiovisual, Fiction, Non-fiction, the Reference Desk, International, the Parent Collection, Catalog Computers, Computers, the Information Desk, the Discussion Room, the Quiet Room, the Computer Lab, the Class Room, the Teen Area, the Craft Room, and two Program Rooms.
The Original Illustrations Gallery is a permanent exhibit of artworks by top-rated illustrators of children’s books. It includes works by many Caldecott award winners. As the name implies, what one sees here are the actual paintings or collages that the artists created which were subsequently reproduced in the children’s books.
The Enchanted Forest is a giant bronze sculptural diorama by Chicago artist Richard Hunt. The S.T.L.D. states, “The magical world of the Enchanted Forest allows children to interact with their favorite books in ways they never dreamed of. The castle features figures from the book Tomie de Paola’s Mother Goose. The interior of the cottage represents the mole’s cottage from the children’s book Wind in the Willows. Three-dimensional dioramas feature scenes from other familiar stories, including The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Tales of Uncle Remus and the Tale of Tom Kitten. Once inside you can sit and read on bright red mushroom chairs next to the bunny family from The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Deeper into the forest, children will find a castle tower, in which they can play with puppets from the Youth Services Information Desk. Don’t forget to look for the library’s official mascot, Reggie the Reading Raccoon, who greets you as you enter the forest.”
Near the Quiet Room, one will find a display of dioramas that depicts life in Illinois from the 1600s to the 1900s. Albert Fantel painted the dioramas in the late 1970s under a state grant for the Illinois Setting area. The dioramas include American Indians in the 1600s, a courthouse in 1739, Fort Dearborn in 1807, and Hull House in 1900.
Southwest of the Lobby is the Audiovisual Services Department. Here, one will find the AV Information Desk, DVDs, CDs, Spoken Books, CD-Roms, New Items, Sheet Music, Non-fiction Videos, Movie Videos, and Movies/Theatre.
On the second floor, one will find Non-fiction, the Discussion Room, the Quiet Study Room, the Illinois Collection, more public restrooms, Reference Books, the Rasmussen Rooms (Rasmussen North and Rasmussen South), the Kitchen, the Adult Classroom, the Reference Desk, Research Computers, Public Computers, the Computer Lab, the Computer Discussion Room, Information Discussion Rooms A & B, Catalog Computers, New Non-fiction, the International Collection, the International Discussion Room, the Extension Discussion Room, Magazines, the Info/Magazines Desk, and the Periodical Discussion Room. The Magazine Back Issues Room is not open to the public. I imagine the same is true of the Special Equipment Room.
On the second floor, one will also find the sculpture Open Book, which was unveiled on January 14, 2002. This sculpture by the aforementioned Richard Hunt stands about nine feet tall and is five feet wide.
The Central Library is open from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays, from 12:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Sundays in wintertime, and from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sundays in summertime (Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend). The main phone number there is (847) 985-4000.
Figure 2 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the southeastern corner of the Schaumburg Township District Library’s Central Library in the northwest corner of Town Square mall as seen on February 17, 2012.
Figure 3 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the eastern façade of the Schaumburg Township District Library’s Central Library in the northwest corner of Town Square mall as seen on February 17, 2012.
Figure 4 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the eastern façade of the Schaumburg Township District Library’s Central Library as seen from Town Commons in the Town Square mall as seen on April 16, 2018.
Figure 5 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the southeastern corner of the Schaumburg Township District Library’s Central Library in the northwest corner of Town Square mall as seen on April 16, 2018.
Figure 6 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the eastern façade of the Schaumburg Township District Library’s Central Library as seen on April 16, 2018, south of the entrance pavilion.
Figure 7 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the eastern façade of the Schaumburg Township District Library’s Central Library as seen on April 16, 2018, including part of the three-story entrance pavilion.
Figure 8 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the eastern façade of the Schaumburg Township District Library’s Central Library as seen on April 16, 2018, including the three-story entrance pavilion.
Figure 9 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the eastern façade of the Schaumburg Township District Library’s Central Library as seen on April 16, 2018, including part of the three-story entrance pavilion and front porch.
Figure 10 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the eastern façade of the Schaumburg Township District Library’s Central Library as seen on April 16, 2018, north of the entrance pavilion, including part of the front porch.
Figure 11 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the northeastern corner of the Schaumburg Township District Library’s Central Library in the northwest corner of Town Square mall.
Larger Teen Center Opens
A new 6,000-square-foot Teen Center called Teen Place opened on the second floor of the Central Library with a grand opening celebration on Saturday, November 24, 2012. It serves students between the ages of twelve and nineteen. While construction was underway, teen patrons were temporarily served in the back area of Youth Services.
“Quite simply, STDL is setting a new national standard for library service to teens,” stated Library Director Sarnoff. “This space incorporates state-of-the-art technology and abundant print resources in a comfortable and attractive environment for both academic and recreational activities.”
The S.T.D.L. stated in the October-November 2012 Program Guide, “This exciting event coincides with a final 50th anniversary gala as the library nears the end of its half-century mark. Come to the lobby for a special treat and some fun giveaways, then journey up to the Teen area to explore the new technology and other resources available to students ages 12-19. Library staff will be stationed throughout the Teen area to demonstrate equipment. All visitors to the Teen area get a little thank you gift for checking out the library’s newest addition.”
Teen Place on the second floor is ten times larger than the old Teen Center on the first floor. It has been built without the loss of other public space. Instead, what had been staff space was repurposed. Some workstations in what is now the Teen Center were relocated to the old Teen Center on the first floor, while others were added to workspaces elsewhere in the building. The new Teen Center has a multipurpose program room with a stage, a digital media production studio, gaming stations, and study rooms. Both the fiction and non-fiction collections are larger in Teen Place than they were in the old Teen Center.
Schaumburg Township District Library’s Teen Place Honored
Teen Place received an Honorable Mention in the Single Space Design category of the 2014 Library Interior Design Awards, as I mentioned in my last article. The Library Leadership and Management Association (L.L.A.M.A.), a division of the American Library Association (A.L.A.), and The International Interior Design Association (I.I.D.A.) announced the winners on Tuesday, April 29, 2014. Dewberry, the architectural firm, stated, “Schaumburg Township Main Library wanted to provide their teen population with a technologically advanced, state-of-the-art area with built-in flexibility. The idea of a teen quad, where teens could relax, study, and socialize, was the result of series of brainstorming sessions with teen focus groups. The 6,370-square-foot interior renovation included quite a few key features, such as a video production room, study area, program and discussion rooms, as well as a vending and social area.”
The Teen Place study area is separated from the activity area by a full height all glass storefront; two service desks provide assistance to each side.
The main area has comfortable lounge furniture for listening to music, power stations to recharge devices, digital white boards, and a separate dedicated sound system.
A vending area is available with numerous Edison and USB power outlets.
In the sound-proofed video production room Apple laptops, ipads [sic], ipods [sic], green screen technology, drum kits, and electronic equipment are available.
The program room can be used as a meeting room, computer lab, craft room, or a secondary study area. A folding glass wall makes the space flexible.
The program room also has four ‘digital dens’ with 60-inch video monitors and gaming equipment.
Figure 12 Credit: Schaumburg Township District Library Caption: This is the Digital Production Studio. This is the place for burgeoning film students or vloggers (video-bloggers).
Figure 13 Credit: Schaumburg Township District Library Caption: These are students studying for finals. Much like college students with academic libraries, many high school students find public libraries are settings more conducive for study than their homes.
Figure 14 Credit: Schaumburg Township District Library Caption: This is a ceiling light fixture in the Teen Place, which received an Honorable Mention in the Single Space Design category of the 2014 Library Interior Design Awards.
Figure 15 Credit: Schaumburg Township District Library Caption: MacBooks, Teen Place. For many families, public libraries are not only places to read for research and recreation, but also to access computers.
Caption: Figure 16 Credit: Schaumburg Township District Library Teens study in Teen Place on the second floor of the Central Library. Teen Place serves teenagers from ages twelve to nineteen.
Figure 17 Credit: Schaumburg Township District Library Caption: Here, we see video game stations in Teen Place on the 2nd floor of the Central Library of the Schaumburg Township District Library in downtown Schaumburg, Illinois.
The Schaumburg Township District Library Branches
The Hoffman Estates Branch Library, which opened in 1976 on Hassell Road, was the Schaumburg Township Public Library’s first branch. In 1992, the Hoffman Estates Branch Library moved into the Hoffman Estates Village Hall. The third iteration of the Hoffman Estates Branch Library – the second on Hassell Road – was built in 2002. It is a 9,700-square-foot facility that stands at 1550 Hassell Road. Opposite the Circulation Desk, one can see Reflections of Northern Illinois, a dyed cotton quilt by M. Joan Lintault. Unveiled in July of 2004, it represents the town’s origins as a farming community. The quilt depicts locally grown vegetables and indigenous wildlife. Artworks by this artist have been exhibited at The White House, The Renwick Gallery of The Smithsonian Institute and other museums.
Outside, one will find Troika Fountain, a copper sculpture by Texan sculptor Steve Rayman. According to the STLD, it is “made of hammered copper with an acid wash applied to produce the verdigris patina,” and is inspired by Japanese garden fountains.
Figure 18 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the Hoffman Estates Branch of the Schaumburg Township District Library at 1550 Hassell Road, as seen in 2012.
The Hoffman Estates Branch Library is open from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. It is closed Sundays. The main phone number there is (847) 885-3511. Part of Hoffman Estates is also served by the Palatine Public Library District.
In 1993, the Hanover Park Branch Library opened. This was a small rented facility. In 2005, the S.T.L.D. broke ground for a new branch library in Hanover Park. On August 24, 2006, the S.T.L.D. opened the new 9,000-square-foot library building at 1266 Irving Park Road. Daily Herald Staff Writer Eric Peterson related on February 21, 2006, the Board of Trustees of the Schaumburg Township Library District voted to name the meeting room in their Hanover Park Branch Library in honor of Sonya Crawshaw (“Room named in honor of leader”). [She had served as village clerk of Hanover Park for twelve years before she served three terms as village board president between 1985 and 1997, and died of cancer at the age of sixty-seven on December 19, 2005.] That same year, the Board of Trustees of the Streamwood-based Poplar Creek Public Library District, which covers the larger part of Hanover Park, in DuPage County, re-named their Hanover Park branch library the Sonya Crawshaw Branch. The village hall is named after her as well. It was Library Board President Robert Lyons who proposed naming the meeting room after Sonya Crawshaw. She had been a strong proponent of the S.T.L.D. opening a branch in Hanover Park. Current Hanover Park officials had specifically requested the inclusion of a community meeting room when the new branch was still in the design phase in 2005 and had pledged $50,000 for it.
The four sculptural murals in the Hanover Park Branch Library are a sculpture of a royal Egyptian sarcophagus standing in a tomb-like setting; a castle complete with a throne, guards and fire-breathing dragon; a lifelike theropod dinosaur; and a model of the night sky on the ceiling comprised of ten miles of fiber optics. The S.T.L.D. states, “Function was not sacrificed for beauty. For example, the medieval castle doubles as a story room with the story teller seated on the throne.”
Outside the Hanover Park Branch Library one will see the bronze artwork Illuminates, which may be the magnum opus of John Regis Tuska. The STLD states, “Tuska considers this piece one of his greatest works, with the original 56 bronze castings taking nearly 10 years from concept to installation. As the project moved from concept to casting, Tuska’s health began to deteriorate. Faced with this challenge, his passion for his work soared even higher.”
The main phone number there is (630) 372-7800. The Hanover Park Branch Library is open from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Mondasy through Thursdays and 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. It is closed Sundays.
Leadership
Stephanie Sarnoff became the Executive Director of the Schaumburg Township Library District in February of 2009 and retired at the end of 2016. Previously, she was Director of the Scarsdale Public Library in Scarsdale, New York from August of 1992 to February of 2009. Before that, she was Director of the Mount Kisco Public Library in Mount Kisco, New York from 1984 to 1992. Ms. Sarnoff earned both her B.A. in Political Science and her M.L.S. degree at Queens College in New York City. [Queens College is part of The City University of New York.] She also earned a Certificate in Preservation Management at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Formerly, she was an adjunct professor at Long Island University Palmer School of Library and Information Science. She has had two other leadership positions as President of the Rotary Club of Scarsdale and President of Literacy Volunteers of Westchester County (in New York State). The Daily Herald’s Eric Peterson reported Ms. Sarnoff planned to oversee completion of the $1,400,000 renovation of the Central Library’s lobby and Audiovisual Theatre before she retired.
In January of 2017, Monica Harris succeeded Stephanie Sarnoff as Executive Director of the Schaumburg Township Library District. Formerly, she was Deputy Director from December of 2013 to December of 2016. During that time period, she was also an adjunct faculty member at the San Jose State University (S.J.S.U.) iSchool from January of 2014 to December of 2016. Previously, she was Customer Service Manager at the Oak Park Public Library from April of 2012 to November of 2013 and Assistant Manager of Adult and Teen Services at the Oak Park Public Library from June of 2009 to March of 2012. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Michigan State University and her M.L.I.S. at Wayne State University.
Annie (Dougherty) Miskewitch replaced Monica Harris as Deputy Director in June of 2017. She was Division Chief of Business, History, and Sciences at the Chicago Public Library from August of 2013 to June of 2017. Previously, she was Librarian III-Branch manager at the West Branch of the Chicago Public Library from March of 2011 to July of 2013. She had been Adult Services Librarian at the Lincolnwood Public Library from July of 2005 to June of 2013. From April pf 2007 to February of 2011, was a Librarian I at the Chicago Public Library. She earned her B.A. and M.A. degrees at DePaul University and her M.S. in Library Information Services at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Kathy Schuessler is the Human Resources Director. Beth Valenziano is Finance Director. These four women work at the level of Administration.
Victoria Akinde is the Access Services Director. Amber Creger is the Youth Department Director. Kristin Moo is the Virtual Branch Manager. Kathy Morgan is the Circulation Director. Kate Niehoff is the Programming and Outreach Manager. Jason Santos is the I.T. Director. Hollis Sienkiewicz is the Director of Marketing. Magan Szwarek is the Reference Services Director. Lori Teipel is the Fiction, Movies & Music Director. John Ericson is the Hoffman Estates Branch Manager. Gail Tobin is the Hanover Park Branch Manager. These nine women and two men work at the level of Management.
At least two directors of other libraries have worked at the Schaumburg Township District Library. Carole A. Medal, Executive Director of the Gail Borden Public Library District, served as Technology Supervisor at the Schaumburg Township Public Library in 1979. Matt Teske, who was Director of the Geneva Public Library District from 2008 to 2014 and is now Materials Services Manager at the Indian Trails Public Library District, also formerly worked in some capacity at the Schaumburg Township District Library.
In the Garden City 