The DeKalb Public Library last month received a $1-per-capita state grant of more than $30,000 to improve library programs and expand its collection.

The $33,157 grant “is to help bring libraries into the 20th century,” Library Director Joann O’Malley said. The DeKalb Public Library, 309 Oak St., has received similar grants since 1980, she said.

The money will be used to buy new books, videotapes, compact discs and maintain the Info-Trac periodical listing computer, O’Malley said. Wages for employees working on Sunday also will take a share of the grant, she said. The library employs 31 full- and part-time workers.

Since its beginning in 1893, the library has grown to house about 109,000 volumes, 5,100 audio recordings and 290 magazine subscriptions, O’Malley said. Last year’s circulation was more than 250,000 loans.

Six other DeKalb County libraries also received per capita grants, including Sycamore, Malta, Sandwich, Somonauk, Genoa and Kirkland. In total, the seven DeKalb County libraries received more than $54,000 in grants.

Statewide, 551 libraries received more than $9.9 million.

Although NIU students are allowed to use the DeKalb Public Library, the town library serves a different purpose than NIU’s Founders Memorial Library. “We serve the public, where they serve the academics,” O’Malley said.

The DeKalb Public Library features “outstanding children’s service,” as well as a large fiction collection, high school readers collection and large-print book collection, O’Malley said.

Many university students who use the public library are elementary education majors needing books for children’s literature classes or library science majors, she said.

NIU students residing in the DeKalb city limits may use the public library for free if they apply for a library card. However, O’Malley cautioned that residents of Suburban Estates apartments are outside city limits and must pay $35 for a card.

The grant will finance promotions such as balloons, bookmarks, folders and stickers in the children’s department, said Youth Services Librarian Theresa Winterbauer, a 1988 NIU graduate of library science. The children’s department has a circulation of 300 to 400 items a day, she added.

“A lot of the kids come in with their families,” Winterbauer said. Tommy and Kevin Sparrow, ages 7 and 3, sons of DeKalb Mayor Greg Sparrow and his wife Jennifer, are children’s department regulars. Jennifer Sparrow said they go to the library every two weeks.