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Your Right to Know

As your community library, we want you to have quick access to our public records.

Whether you are looking for budgets or information on our policies, access to our library records can be found here.

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

In August 2009, Governor Pat Quinn signed into law Senate Bill 189, which substantially revised the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and will take effect January 1, 2010. The intent of the law is to increase transparency and accountability in state and local government. The law declares that providing records in compliance with the Act is a primary duty of public bodies regardless of fiscal impact. In addition, a permanent Public Access Counselor Division (PAC) has been formed within the Attorney General’s office to oversee enforcement of the Act.

The goal of the Decatur Public Library is to comply with the Freedom of Information Act and provide access to the public body records in order to increase transparency and accountability to the Decatur community.

Public Record Requests

Interested parties may make a request to view or obtain a copy of public records by submitting their request in writing. A requestor may either submit a request by email or letter submitted by mail.

Once received, the Library has five (5) business days to respond to the request.

Requests for Public Records with regard to administration, departmental and general records are to be forwarded to:

FOIA Officer

130 N. Franklin St.
Decatur, IL 62523

Rick Meyer
(217) 424-9713

Hours: 8:30 am to 4:00 pm

Public Access Counselor (PAC)

Contact information for the PAC in the Illinois Attorney General’s Office is:

Public Access Bureau
500 S. 2nd Street
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 558-0486
publicaccess@atg.state.il.us

Copies Cost

The new law allows for the first 50 pages of black and white, letter or legal size pages to be copied without charge. After 50 pages, a fee of .15 cents for the same pages can be charged. If copies are provided in color or sizes other than letter or legal, the Library is allowed to charge actual cost.

Questions regarding FOIA requests should be directed to requestforinformation.