advertisement

Margaret Anne Lahey: Candidate Profile

Prospect Heights library

Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioQA Bio City: Prospect HeightsWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Prospect Heights libraryAge: 72Family: Widowed, mother of two children, and three wonderful grandchildren.Occupation: I retired from 21 years of employment at the Prospect Heights Public Library District as the Head of Community Services and Graphic Artist.Education: I attended Northeastern Illinois University where I majored in education.Civic involvement: I am the Current President of the Prospect Heights Public Library District Board of Trustees, a member of the Prospect Heights Garden Club doing PR for the Club's many community activities, St. James, member of the Friends of the Library.Elected offices held: I have been a Library Trustee since 2003.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoQuestions Answers Why are you running for this office, whether for re-election or election the first time? Is there a particular issue that motivates you, and if so, what is it?I am running for another term as a library trustee because I love the library. I brought my children to the library when they were growing up; I worked at the library for over 20 years, and now as a retired grandmother, I bring my grandchildren to the library for different programs. The library is and has always been a wonderful and important place in my life. I want to continue to maintain the quality of materials and programs our library brings to all our patrons in Prospect Heights and Wheeling.If you are an incumbent, describe your main contributions. Tell us of important initiatives you've led. If you are a non-incumbent, tell us what contributions you would make.As an incumbent, I believe my main contribution to our library's board has to be my 21 years of experience as a staff member. I am most grateful to the voters of our Library District because after our last referendum passed I, along with the other members of the board, have been able to keep the library solvent during these economic times.Do you have a library card? How long have you had it? How often do you use it?I have a library card; in fact, I have had a library card since 1963. I used to borrow books when our library was in a store front near the corner of Camp McDonald and Rt. 83.I use my library card all the time. I consider it one of the most important cards I own!Space is usually an issue at libraries. If that's the case at your library, would your solution be to expand the physical plant or make room by doing away with parts of the collection that technology has made less critical? Explain.Recently the library board did look at the issue of space, and with the help of a consultant, the Department Heads and our Executive Director we have addressed this issue. We are using the space we have very efficiently. We have incorporated technology well with all the other materials the library has to offer.What impact have economic and technological changes had on libraries? How does a library remain relevant? How should its role in the community change?Our library needed to upgrade the technology to include wireless, and we were able to do that. I feel that our library will always be relevant because not every home has a computer, so our library offers that to those patrons. In addition, we maintain a Foreign Language Collection, Russian, Polish and Spanish. We offer programsin Polish; members of our staff speak multiple languages which is wonderful asset for our patrons, citizens in our library district need libraries for many reasons, not just books, and we our able to meet those needs. The Prospect Heights Public Library has always changed based on the needs of our patrons, and I believe we will continue to do this for years to come. We are here to serve our patrons and we are proud and happy to do it.