Highland Park library expansion gets two new major funders

The Highland Park Public Library announced this week it has received two major resident donations to support its ongoing renovation and expansion of the library building. 

The Alvin H. Baum Family Fund, named after a lifelong Highland Park resident, donated $250,000 to the Reimagine Your Library fundraising campaign, a news release from the public library says. Likewise, Rob and Terri Olian donated $100,000 to the capital campaign. 

Rob Olian is the president of the Library Board of Trustees, and Terri Olian is the executive director of the Highland Park Community Foundation and a former Highland Park City Council member.

“Our love for public libraries began when we were children and has continued to this day,” says a statement attributed to the Olians. “It’s been a joy for us to see how that love has been passed down to our children and now to our grandchildren.”

Construction broke ground in June for the more than 7,500-square-foot addition to the Highland Park Public Library. The project will add two new ADA-accessible restrooms, a three-floor elevator, a climate-controlled archives room, a creative studio and a 175-seat community room. 

The expansion to the west side of the building near the intersection of Laurel and St. Johns avenues will also include a youth department that will provide approximately 25% more book collection space and 50% more activity space to the library. 

The project is estimated to cost $10 million and finish in the late fall of 2026, Olian previously told The Record. The Highland Park Public Library obtained funding for the expansion from grants, a city bond, the library’s capital budget and special reserve fund. 

Highland Park City Council voted on Sept. 8 to approve providing the library a short-term loan of up to $1 million, if necessary, to cover emergency repairs or unforeseen costs incurred from the expansion. 

Highland Park Library’s Reimagine Your Library campaign set a $1 million public fundraising goal for its capital campaign.

As of Sept. 23, the campaign has received $74,997 from 134 gifts. and eight different pledges have also committed $445,000 over the next five years, Jill Alfrejd, communications manager for the library, said in an email.

Two spaces in the expansion — the Alvin H. Baum Family Fund Community Meeting Room and the Rob and Terri Olian Youth Activity Room — will recognize the recent donors.

“People mattered to Al and Ann Baum, the couple the Alvin H. Baum Family Fund is named for. Al was a lifelong resident of Highland Park, and he would want his neighbors to have a library that meets the community’s needs,” said Joel M. Friedman, president of the fund, in the news release.

So far, the ongoing construction has involved excavation-work, the installation of utility infrastructure and the prepping the foundation for the new addition and elevator. Interior work has focused on the demolition of existing spaces and preparing for the future creative studio and elevator.

More than 203,000 people visit the library every year with 16,000 attending programs and checking out 513,000 items, according to the library. The library has remained open for use during the expansion; construction is still on track to complete in the fall of 2026, Alfrejd said.

The Highland Park Public Library first opened in 1931 as a 20,000-square-foot building. Two previous additions in 1960 and 1976 brought the facility to its current square footage of 47,050 square feet.

“We are incredibly grateful for the leadership and generosity of the Alvin H. Baum Family Fund and Rob and Terri Olian,” said Heidi Smith, executive director of the Highland Park Public Library, in the release. “Their gifts inspire others to join us in building a library that meets the needs of today and tomorrow.”

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