Each Trustee of the City Library Board shall carry out the spirit and intent of this chapter in establishing, supporting and maintaining a public library or libraries for providing library service and, in addition to, but without limiting other powers conferred by this chapter, shall have the following powers:
(A) To make and adopt such by-laws, rules and regulations for their own guidance and for the government of the library as may be expedient, not inconsistent with this chapter;
(B) To have the exclusive control of the expenditure of all monies collected for the library and deposited to the credit of the Library Fund;
(C) To have the exclusive control of the construction of any library building and of the supervision, care and custody of the grounds, rooms or buildings constructed, leased or set apart for that purpose;
(D) To purchase or lease real or personal property, and to construct an appropriate building or buildings for the use of a library established hereunder, using, at the Board’s option, contracts providing for all or part of the consideration to be paid through installments at stated intervals during a certain period not to exceed 20 years with interest on the unpaid balance at any lawful rate for municipal corporations in this state, except that contracts for installment purchases of real estate shall provide for not more than 75% of the total consideration to be repaid by installments, and to refund at any time any installment contract entered into pursuant to this division (D) by means of a refunding loan agreement, which may provide for installment payments of principal and interest to be made at stated intervals during a certain period not to exceed 20 years from the date of such refunding loan agreement, with interest on the unpaid principal balance at any lawful rate for municipal corporations in this state, except that no installment contract or refunding loan agreement for the same property or construction project may exceed an aggregate of 20 years;
(E) To remodel or reconstruct a building erected or purchased by the Board, when such building is not adapted to its purposes or needs;
(F) To sell or otherwise dispose of any real or personal property that it deems no longer necessary or useful for library purposes, and to lease to others any real property not immediately useful, but for which plans for ultimate use have been or will be adopted; however, the corporate authorities shall have the first right to purchase or lease;
(G) To appoint and to fix the compensation of a qualified librarian, who shall have the authority to hire such other employees as may be necessary, to fix their compensation, and to remove such appointees, subject to the approval of the Board, but these powers are subject to Division I of Article 10 of the Illinois Municipal Code (65 ILCS 5/10-1-1) in municipalities in which that Division is in force. The Board may also retain counsel and professional consultants as needed;
(H) To contract with any public or private corporation or entity for the purpose of providing or receiving library service or of performing any and all other acts necessary and proper to carry out the responsibilities and the provisions of this chapter. This power includes, but is not limited to, participation in interstate library compacts and library systems, and to contract to supply library services and for the expenditure of any federal or state funds made available to any county, municipality, township or to the state for library purposes;
(I) To join with the board or boards of any one or more libraries in this state in maintaining libraries, or for the maintenance of a common library or common library services for participants, upon such terms as may be agreed upon by and between the Boards;
(J) To enter into contracts and to take title to any property acquired by it for library purposes by the name and style of the Library Board of Trustees of the city, and by that name to sue and be sued;
(K) To exclude from the use of the library any person who willfully violates the rules prescribed by the Board;
(L)
To extend the privileges and use of the library; including the borrowing of materials on an individual basis by persons residing outside of the city. If the Board exercises this power, the privilege of library use shall be upon such terms and conditions as the Board shall, from time to time, by its regulations, prescribe and for such privileges and use, the Board shall charge a nonresident fee at least equal to the cost paid by residents of the city, with the cost to be determined according to the formula established by the state library. The nonresident fee shall not apply to privilege and use provided under the terms of the library’s membership in a library system operating under the provisions of 75 ILCS 10/1 et seq., the State Library System Act, or under the terms of any reciprocal agreement with a public or private corporation or entity providing a library service, or to a nonresident in an unincorporated area in the state who is a student whose household falls at or below the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s income eligibility guidelines. The Board may adopt regulations waiving the nonresident fee for persons under the age of 18;
(M) To exercise the power of eminent domain subject to the prior approval of the corporate authorities under the provisions of 75 ILCS 5/5-1 and 5/2;
(N) To join the public library as a member in the Illinois Library Association and the American Library Association, non-profit, non-political, (501(c)(3)) associations, as designated by the Federal Internal Revenue Service, having the purpose of library development and librarianship; to provide for the payment of annual membership dues, fees and assessments and act by, through, and in the name of such instrumentality by providing and disseminating information and research services, employing personnel and doing any and all other acts for the purpose of improving library development;
(O) To accumulate and set apart as reserve funds, portions of the unexpended balances of the proceeds received annually from taxes or other sources for the purpose of providing self insurance against liabilities relating to the public library; and
(P) To invest funds pursuant to the 30 ILCS 235/1 et seq.
(75 ILCS 5/4-7) (1999 Code, § 20-1-7)