DeKALB – Ruth Anne Tobias, Mary Beth Van Buer and 11 other volunteers are working diligently to raise funds to expand the DeKalb Public Library while the library still has the opportunity to receive matching funds from the state.

“Before Christmas, the state said that if we can raise $8.5 million by June, then they will match the other half,” said Tobias, a member of the library's Community Fundraising Committee.

Committee members have placed decorated donation jars in all 11 public schools in DeKalb and at the library to raise both money and to raise awareness of the library's plans to add more than 45,000 square feet to the 19,000-square-foot building.