Provides overview of unemployment legislation and describes the workings of an Illinois fund--the Suburban Library System Unemployment Compensation Joint Account--formed by 64 Illinois public libraries and library systems to self-insure for unemployment compensation. (EJS)

Librarians like to say their libraries are the heart of their communities, and in Cynthia Fuerst's case, it is a fact. For the Kankakee Public Library, this took long, hard effort by an inspired library director, the mayor, and a developer who wanted to revive business in an economically devastated downtown. When Fuerst became the library's…