The Kewanee Public Library has several staff members throughout the building that are registered notaries and will be offering that service free of charge.

“We do ask that everyone call ahead of time to make sure that a notary is in the building and available to notarize,” said Sarah Arnold, circulation services manager for the library.

Arnold said there are actually several notaries on each floor in the library, which should cut down on the times when there is not a staff notary in the building.

“We ask anyone requesting notarization to provide the completed, but unsigned document to be notarized, a witness or witnesses if required by the document, as well as a valid, unexpired state, federal or government ID that features both their signature and photo.

Due to Illinois law, the library staff won’t be able to notarize deeds, mortgages or other real estate closing documents nor can they provide any legal or professional advice. Illinois law also requires that the notary and person requesting notarization be able to communicate directly with each other, and they are, therefore, unable to notarize documents written in languages in which they aren’t fluent.

“This should be starting within the next week, if not the next couple of days,” Arnold said. “We’re all very excited to be able to provide this service to our community.”