The library has three different editing suites each with audio and video production software. Local businesses can book conference rooms with projectors. Then there’s the fireplace and a fancy coffee bar.
A few miles south, at the Cicero Public Library things are a little different. Jane Schoen is the director there and also gave me a tour.
“We have a job board here and people are checking it all the time,” she said. “We have our public computers that people use to complete resumes.
Cicero had its own renovation about ten years ago when it was merged with a former warehouse next door. And it’s also fairly spacious like the library in Arlington Heights.
But, that’s where the similarities end.
While Arlington Heights offers patrons personalized tech help for their gadgets, not to mention in-house iPads, Cicero struggles to maintain basic services (a quick glance at each library’s websites is telling).
“We would like to keep up a little bit more with technology,” Schoen said. “We don’t yet have wireless printing for instance.”