Legler Regional Library, the West Side’s dedicated regional library, reopened Jan. 7, almost six months after the July 2 flooding damaged the equipment in the basement.
Such libraries act as regional hubs within the Chicago Public Library system, with longer hours of operation, larger collections, and programs and services neighborhood branch libraries don’t have. When the flooding damaged the equipment in the basement, forcing Legler to close, CPL shifted staff to the branch libraries and expanded hours at Austin branch library and North Lawndale’s Douglass branch library.
Legler library quietly reopened Jan. 7, and it has been open during its regular hours since then. The staff declined to comment on the record, saying that they needed clearance from CPL’s communications department. Officials didn’t respond to requests for comment by deadline. However, staff members indicated that many of the regular Legler patrons still have no idea the library reopened, and they are eager to get the word out to try to bring them back.
Legler originally opened in 1920. It was downgraded to the branch library in the 1970s, but in 2018, Rahm Emanuel, who was then mayor, announced that it would become a regional library again. The final plans called for it to get CPL’s first-ever in-house art studio, a Maker Space, an expanded teen section with YOUmedia multimedia space, an expanded children’s section with more materials and toys, a new auditorium in the basement, more meeting rooms and a new, larger computer lab. The library closed for renovations in the summer of 2019, reopening amid the COVID-19 pandemic in late December 2020.
The artist studio got its first artist-in-residence, Alexandra Antoine, in the spring of 2022.
For the past two years, the library also offered free clothes on the racks tucked away in the back of the adult fiction collection. As of Jan. 11, two racks were filled with tops and bottoms, and had plenty of shoes. According to the signs, which are posted in English and Spanish, patrons can take what they need, but they need to use the restrooms if they want to try any of the items on.
The staff has also been scheduling events. Market Days, a monthly event when residents could pick up fresh fruits and vegetables provided by the Greater Chicago Food Depository and find out about local services, will return Jan. 20 and once again take place every third Saturday of the month at 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. A family game night, where families get to play Bingo, chess and checkers against each other, will take place Jan. 22 at 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., and YOUmedia will host a hand sewing workshop for teens on Jan. 23 at 3:45 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.
Legler Regional Library is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. For the latest information about the library programs and events, visit https://www.chipublib.org/locations/42/