The Orland Park Public Library is more than just a place to check out books.
To hear library board treasurer Dan McMillan tell it, the library does so many things including saving marriages.
“People don’t know that we have a ‘Library of Things,’’’ he said. “A couple lost a wedding ring in their yard. They looked online and found they needed a metal detector and borrowed one from our Library of Things.
“They found the ring and we saved a marriage.”
The Village of Orland Park honored the library for its work – including saving a marriage — over the years during the Sept. 9 Committee of the Whole meeting.
The board observed September as Library Card Sign-Up Month and used the opportunity to praise library officials.
“The library is a really important community asset,” Orland Park Mayor James Dodge said. “It’s always busy—I don’t think I see a whole lot of times when you don’t have cars there taking advantage of this and I appreciate the fact that people want to lead and want to learn.
“That’s a big thing and I like the fact that we have a public library to support that and it’s pretty important to our nation.”
McMillan thanked the village board and said that the library currently stands at 24,132 residents who currently own cards.
He also talked about other services the library offers.
“We have so many things at the library that people don’t realize what we have,” he said. “We have training rooms that businesses can use and I don’t think they use them enough.”
He added there were more than 16,000 reservations used by students and others for study rooms in the last year.
“We are the jewel of Orland Park and we are constantly shining that jewel up,” McMillan said. “It’s the finest library in the state of Illinois.”
