 In addition to the 106 community libraries Carnegie helped create he also provided funding for four state university libraries in Illinois.The Carnegie Library, in Illinois and nationwide, represents a significant period in the history of the American public library, which is part of the very social history that threads its way through the American past.Collectively the buildings of the Illinois Carnegie Library Multiple Property Submission come from a time period when Americans were beginning to demand the library as a necessary public institution and the library was altering the way society functioned.