Library Service to Those Who Serve: Resources and Programs for Veterans

The EPLD also paired up with Eureka’s American Legion to co-sponsor educational programs involving veterans at the library. On each “Veterans’ Night,” two local veterans drew a crowd of library patrons and shared their stories. At a separate event, a group of Civil War re-enactors presented a program that included the story of a civil war surgeon from Eureka. Over the course of the summer, library patrons also placed stickers on a world map to indicate where they or a loved one had served. By August, the map had 142 stickers placed on every continent but Antartica.

While programs like this have a profound impact, effectively serving veteran populations includes more than just outreach to veterans’ homes. According to a 2014 survey published by the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 730,000 military veterans reside in Illinois. This means that approximately 6 percent of Illinois residents have served in the military. The Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs also indicates a “lack of personal engagement between veterans and the community” (“Illinois Veterans: Demographics, Challenges, and Strengths”) as a common challenge within the state’s veteran community. Several Illinois libraries are taking steps similar to EPLD to work toward bridging this gap. One way some library employees are doing this is by involving their libraries in the Veterans History Project, an oral history initiative spearheaded by the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress and Illinois State Library. By participating in the Veterans History Project, veterans and civilians who have contributed to a war effort are able to share their personal stories via interviews with library staff and community members. These interviews, as well as any corresponding photos, letters, or other historical documents, are then sent to the American Folklife Center, where an archival record is established in the veteran’s name.

At the Gail Borden Public Library District in Elgin, a similar program called Veterans Voices connects local volunteer veterans with students. Participants in this program have the freedom to conduct conversations in as structured or as informal a manner as they’d like. In 2017, the year of the program’s inception, veterans who had been recruited and trained by library staff visited 90 Illinois School District U-46 classrooms at 17 different schools and spoke to 3,300 students and teachers. The veterans shared their experiences in the military and discussed what being a veteran, and Veterans Day, meant to them.

Gail Borden also hosts Visiting Vets, an outreach program that connects local active service members with veterans in care facilities within the library district. The library provides organization-to-organization guidelines, volunteer training, scheduling, background, and library support services. The veterans provide the content, with support from Gail Borden’s life enrichment liaison. Veterans that have served at different times throughout the years can then share and compare stories, offer encouragement and advice, and develop mentorships. These types of events provide opportunities for community members of all ages and backgrounds to interact, and for library staff to build relationships with area veterans and lead them toward further resources that the library has to offer.

Some library resources that help veterans the most aren’t geared specifically toward veterans. For example, 7 percent of Illinois veterans are unemployed. There are a variety of reasons behind this, including readjustment challenges due to mental health struggles and gaps in training and education. Veterans may also find it difficult to translate military training into relevant civilian skills and credentials. Illinois libraries provide assistance for veterans in search of employment by offering resources such as computer literacy courses, information on VA benefits, and books and publications on reentering the workforce. Evergreen Park Public Library, for instance, offers patrons a Career Resource Center that includes access to career-focused tutorials, job listing sites, and a computer lab. Champaign Public Library hosts “Launch at the Library,” a business services enclave that offers appointments with business librarians and specialists, a free online course library, entrepreneurship events, a small business resource center, and more.

In 2017, Booth Library at Eastern Illinois University announced a somewhat more creative approach to honoring and connecting with area veterans. Inspired by a similar display held by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign the year prior, Booth hosted an exhibit called “Design of Duty” that showcased the service-themed tattoos of area veterans. The exhibit was on display at the library from January 22, 2018, until May 11, 2018, and has continued to travel among East Central Illinois libraries for temporary display. It will end its tour at Lake Land College Library in Mattoon on December 3, 2018.