The Week Ahead - Lake County

MONDAY

State audit calls on former Gary Public Library worker to reimburse more than $5,000

GARY | State auditors are requesting a former Gary Public Library worker pay back more than $5,000 in compensation in an investigation made public this week.

Group seeks comments about closure of Gary Public Library

GARY | The Citizens to Save the Gary Public Library will host a public forum at 6 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the future of Gary's main library branch.

Gary Public Library director resigns effective May 1; acting chief appointed

GARY | About five months after taking over the embattled Gary Public Library system, Director Otis Alexander is stepping down, the Library Board president said Tuesday.

Mayor asked to shelve Gary library board appointee

GARY | Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson is being asked to schedule a public hearing to remove Rayfield Fisher, a member of the Gary Public Library board appointed by former Mayor Rudy Clay.

Lake County Council shelves Gary library dispute

CROWN POINT | Those wanting to read the next chapter in the Gary Public Library dispute are being put on a waiting list.

Lake County Council won't delay Gary library board member's hearing

CROWN POINT | The Lake County Council refused Thursday to delay next week's public hearing on whether to remove Cynthia Watts as its representative on Gary's library board.

Gary library workers call staffing cuts 'a slap in the face'

GARY | Gary Public Library employees said Monday they are bracing for a staff reorganization that will kill their union, put many of them out of work and impoverish those who remain.

Lake council member to face hearing over Gary library vote

CROWN POINT | A Gary Public Library board member next month at a public hearing will have to defend her decision to support closure of the city's main library.

Gary Library Board votes to lay off workers

GARY | Layoffs of Gary Public Library employees will become effective March 1, said Tony Walker, president of the Gary Public Library Board.

2 seek injunction to reopen Gary's main library

HAMMOND | A request for an emergency injunction was filed in federal court Thursday seeking to reverse the Gary Library Board's decision to close and dismantle the main branch at 220 W. Fifth Ave.

Gary library reorganization plan not ready

GARY | Scores of library supporters flooded Tuesday's meeting of the Gary Library Board to learn which workers would be laid off, but the reorganization plan wasn't ready.

Gary residents not ready to close the book on the city's main library

GARY | Wind-whipped snow greeted some three dozen people as they rallied Monday morning outside the now-shuttered main Gary Public Library.

Main Gary Public Library closes its doors

GARY | At 11 a.m. Wednesday, the main Gary Public Library began its transition from a library to the South Shore Museum & Cultural Center by closing its doors to patrons wanting to check out materials.

Main Gary Public Library to become cultural center

GARY | The city's main library at 220 W. Fifth Ave. will be renovated as the South Shore Museum & Cultural Center at a cost of $2 million rather than shuttered as originally proposed earlier this year.

EDITORIAL: Take library merger plans off shelf

If ever there were a sign that public libraries are in trouble, it is the decision in both Hammond and Gary to close library branches to save money.

GUEST COMMENTARY: Gary Library Board hasn't tried to rescue main library

How can the children and citizens of this great city be educated without the main library open, located within blocks of City Hall?

Group offers Spa and Pamper Me Day for women

GARY | The not-for-profit group Real Women Moving Forward is sponsoring a "Spa and Pamper Me Day" from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday at the Kennedy Branch of the Gary Public Library, 3953 Broadway.

Turning the page on libraries

There was a time when public libraries were simply silent, cavernous spaces with seemingly endless rows of books -- but that day is gone. "Right now, we're seeing more and more requests for the e-readers," said Jim Cline, director of the Porter County Public Library system.

Student art exhibit opens today at Gary Public Library gallery

GARY | An opening reception for a student art exhibit by senior visual art students of the Wirt/Emerson School of Visual and Performing Arts will be from 4:30 to 6 p.m. today at the Barbara Leek Wesson Art Gallery, located in the DuBois Branch of the Gary Public Library, 1835 Broadway.