Posted inInvestigating Responses

Illinois’ Low-Cost Library Program Takes on the Justice Gap

A pilot program in 18 libraries across nine counties trains staff to help residents navigate civil court proceedings, offering a lifeline in communities where legal aid and public transit are scarce.

by Sidnee King Pineda December 1, 2025December 10, 2025

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

When republishing or co-publishing our stories, please copy and paste our tracking code (found at the bottom of the copy below - it includes the words "republication-tracker-tool") anywhere in the body of this article in your website’s content management system. This will let us know how much traffic our story has received. Find our content republishing guidelines here.

Illinois’ Low-Cost Library Program Takes on the Justice Gap

by Sidnee King Pineda, Illinois Answers Project
December 1, 2025

<h1>Illinois’ Low-Cost Library Program Takes on the Justice Gap</h1>
<p class="byline">by Sidnee King Pineda, Illinois Answers Project <br />December 1, 2025</p>
<div class="newspack-content-gate__gate newspack-content-gate__inline-gate">
<div style="clear:both;display:table"></div>
<div class="wp-block-group alignwide has-border-color has-base-3-border-color has-white-color has-primary-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-e7fc213332116fec529e51d91b509d1c" style="border-width:1px;border-top-left-radius:8px;border-top-right-radius:8px;border-bottom-left-radius:8px;border-bottom-right-radius:8px;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--80);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--80);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--80);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--80)">
<div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-0cefa6ed wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained">
<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center" id="h-want-to-read-more">Want to read more?</h3>
<div class="wp-block-group">
<div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d055b032 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained">
<p class="has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph">Our stories are always <strong>free</strong>! We just need your email address.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="wp-block-group">
<div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d055b032 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained">
<div class="newspack-registration newspack-ui ">
<p class="newspack-registration__description">By entering my email I consent to receiving additional emails from Illinois Answers Project, such as newsletters, event invitations, and occasional opportunities to support our work. I understand I can unsubscribe at any time.</p>
<p>Have questions or experiencing an issue? Contact us at <a href="mailto:info@bettergov.org">info@bettergov.org</a>.</p>
<div class="newspack-registration__form-content">
<div class="newspack-registration__main">
<div>
<div class="newspack-ui">
			<button type="button" class="newspack-ui__button newspack-ui__button--wide newspack-ui__button--secondary newspack-ui__button--google-oauth"></p>
<p>							Continue with Google			</button></p>
<div class="newspack-ui__word-divider">
				Or			</div>
</p></div>
<div class="newspack-registration__inputs">
<p>																<button type="submit" class="newspack-ui__button newspack-ui__button--primary"><br />
									<span class="submit">Continue</span><br />
								</button>
							</div>
<div class="newspack-registration__response newspack-registration--hidden">
															</div>
</p></div>
</p></div>
</p></div>
<div class="newspack-registration__help-text">
<p>
													<a href="https://illinoisanswers.org/privacy-policy-2/"><br />
							I agree to the <a href="https://www.bettergov.org/better-government-association-privacy-policy/">Terms of Service</a> and <a href="https://www.bettergov.org/terms-of-service/">Privacy Policy</a>.												</a>
											</p>
</p></div>
<div class="newspack-registration__registration-success newspack-registration--hidden newspack-ui__box newspack-ui__box--x-large newspack-ui__box--success newspack-ui__box--text-center">
				<span class="newspack-ui__icon newspack-ui__icon--success"></p>
<p>							</span></p>
<div class="wp-block-newspack-reader-registration">
<p class="has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph">Success! Your account was created and you’re signed in.</p>
</div></div>
</p></div>
</p></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://illinoisanswers.org/2025/12/01/illinois-low-cost-library-program-takes-on-justice-gap/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://illinoisanswers.org&quot;&gt;Illinois Answers Project&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/illinoisanswers.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;</p>
&lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://illinoisanswers.org/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=24702&amp;amp;ga4=G-3GC466Z1PL&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://illinoisanswers.org/2025/12/01/illinois-low-cost-library-program-takes-on-justice-gap/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/illinoisanswers.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;script&gt;(function () {
  const postId = 24702;
  const source = window.location.hostname;
  const screenWidth = window.innerWidth;
  const pagePath = window.location.pathname;

  fetch(
    `https://illinoisanswers.org/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/${postId}?_fields=id,title`
  )
    .then(function (response) {
      if (!response.ok) {
        throw new Error(`WordPress API returned ${response.status}`);
      }

      return response.json();
    })
    .then(function (data) {
      const title = data?.title?.rendered || &quot;unknown&quot;;

      const query = new URLSearchParams({
        post: title,
        title: title,
        source: source,
        path: pagePath,
        width: String(screenWidth),
        test: &quot;staging&quot;,
        cache_bust: String(Date.now())
      });

      const pixel = new Image();
      pixel.src =
        &quot;https://d92l5yv8og.execute-api.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/prod/trackingpixel?&quot; +
        query.toString();

      console.log(&quot;Republication pixel requested:&quot;, pixel.src);
    })
    .catch(function (error) {
      console.error(&quot;Republication pixel failed:&quot;, error);
    });
})();&lt;/script&gt;

Sara Lock, left, and Lesley Cyrier, librarians at the Addison Public Library, are part of a statewide program offering digital literacy and access for Illinois residents needing to connect to civil court. (Victor Hilitski/For Illinois Answers Project)

Want to read more?

Our stories are always free! We just need your email address.

By entering my email I consent to receiving additional emails from Illinois Answers Project, such as newsletters, event invitations, and occasional opportunities to support our work. I understand I can unsubscribe at any time.

Have questions or experiencing an issue? Contact us at info@bettergov.org.

I agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Success! Your account was created and you’re signed in.

Tagged: Court access

Sidnee King Pineda

sking@illinoisanswers.org

Sidnee King Pineda joined the Illinois Answers Project (BGA) in late 2020 as an investigative reporter covering the impacts of Chicago, Cook County and Illinois government action on communities of color. Sidnee is a metro Detroit native who received her master's degree from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism just before joining the BGA. She is also a proud graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C. She joined The New York Times’s Local Investigations Fellowship last year. You can find some of Sidnee's previous work published in outlets like The Washington Post, Vox.com, and the Michigan Chronicle.

More by Sidnee King Pineda