Illinois State Library

Illinois State Library

Agency overview
Formed	February 22, 1839 (1839-02-22)
Jurisdiction	State of Illinois
Headquarters	300 South Second Street Springfield, Illinois, United States 39°47′57″N 89°39′10″W / 39.7992172°N 89.6528777°W / 39.7992172; -89.6528777
Agency executives	Alexi Giannoulias, State Librarian Greg McCormick, Director
Parent agency	Office of the Secretary of State
Website	ilsos.gov/departments/library
Footnotes
1

The Illinois State Library (ISL) is the library of the state of Illinois, located in Springfield, Illinois, and administered by the Office of the Secretary of State of Illinois.² The library has a collection of 5 million items and serves as regional federal documents depository for the state.³ The library oversees the Talking Book and Braille Service which offers audio and braille library service to Illinois residents with print disabilities or other disabilities.⁴ The library maintains the Illinois Center for the Book, the Illinois Digital Archives and the Illinois Veterans History Project.⁵

The original state library was located next to the office of Stephen A. Douglas while he was Secretary of State of Illinois.⁶ It moved into the west wing of the State Capitol's third floor in October 1887.⁷ The Illinois State Library is currently housed in the purpose-built library rededicated as the Gwendolyn Brooks State Library in 2003.⁸ The library which was designed by Chicago architectural firm Graham, Anderson, Probst and White.⁶ Construction took five years to complete and cost just under 36 million dollars when it was complete in 1990.⁶