Libraries and library science are particularly strong in Illinois. In 2000 there were 12 public library systems, which had a combined book stock of 41 million and circulation of over 83 million. The facilities in Peoria, Oak Park, Evanston, Rockford, and Quincy are noteworthy; and the Chicago Public Library system (with 6,490,452 volumes) operates 89 branch libraries, and the Illinois Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. The outstanding libraries of the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana) and the University of Chicago (with over 8,000,000 and 6,419,936 volumes respectively) constitute the state's leading research facilities, and the University of Illinois has a famous library school. Principal historical collections are at the Newberry Library in Chicago, the Illinois State Historical Society in Springfield, and the Chicago Historical Society. Public library income for 2000 was $481,279,000; including $1,687,674 in federal grants and $36,577,204 in state grants.
Illinois has 277 museums and historic sites. Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History, with an annual attendance of over 1.2 million, has sponsored numerous worldwide expeditions in the course of acquiring some 13 million anthropological, zoological, botanical, and geological specimens. The Museum of Science and Industry, near the University of Chicago, attracts two million visitors a year, mostly children, to see its exhibits of industrial technology. Also noteworthy are the Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, and the Oriental Institute Museum of the University of Chicago. The Brookfield Zoo, near Chicago, opened in 1934; smaller zoos can be found in Chicago's Lincoln Park and in Peoria, Elgin, and other cities.
Just about every town has one or more historic sites authenticated by the state. The most popular is New Salem, near Springfield, where Abraham Lincoln lived from 1831 to 1837. Its reconstruction, begun by press magnate William Randolph Hearst in 1906, includes one original cabin and numerous replicas. The most important archaeological sites are the Dixon Mounds, 40 mi (64 km) south of Peoria, and the Koster Excavation in Calhoun County, north of St. Louis, Mo.