Before the construction of the Carnegie libraries the condition of libraries in small town Illinois can be described as poor, at least based on the descriptions in correspondence to Bertram regarding the grants. Littered among the glowing self-reviews of various communities are indications of the state of libraries in communities seeking Carnegie grants. For instance, in Oregon, Illinois, the Oregon Public Library was forced to occupy "undesirable rented rooms," first in a drug store and then later in a bank building. The 12,000 volume library in Havana was housed in a small room in city hall, cluttered among other municipal offices and departments. The accuracy of these statements is hard to know as the communities were vying for competitive grants for new libraries, but the correspondence can give some idea of the condition of libraries around the state prior to the influx of Carnegie's money.