I am currently a library employee, however my story starts before I began working at the library. I have 3 kids who would request to visit the library every week just to see what kind of programs they had going on. Being an avid reader myself, I was encouraged that my kids were asking to go to the library, wanting to engage in learning, but library days were challenging for my youngest. She had a hard time sitting still & engaging in the activities that were going on. She would complain about the noise or the lights or the temperature or the way this or that felt to her, she...
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20 February 2020
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10 February 2020
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Our Short Story Kiosk, generously donated by the Glen Ellyn Library Foundation last spring, has ventured out into the community and made its first stop at Glen Crest Middle School!
The Kiosk dispenses one, three and five-minute stories and poems on long scrolls resembling receipt paper. At Glen Crest, readers can choose from three categories, designated by large buttons on the machine: "Children," "Young Adult" and "Glen Crest." The latter will print original student-written stories.
We are pleased to share this fun and educational resource and look forward to the Kiosk's...
10 February 2020
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You agree with the concept: libraries need more resources to help them tell the story. You like the resources: a whole website full of those resources. But now you're wondering, how can you help with the My Library Is... campaign?
Great question! You can start by becoming a My Library Is... Champion! What is a My Library Is... Champion? It's anyone that can invest the time to participate in the campaign by doing one or more of the following activities:
- Adding materials to our Sharing Showcase
- Capturing a library story...
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7 February 2020
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The Library Media Center at Vernon Hills High School focuses on reading, research and fun! We host students in their classes as they seek reliable information sources and how to cite those sources; we celebrate reading with fiction arranged in 10 genres and an emphasis on books nominated for the Lincoln Illinois Teen Readers' Choice Award; and we welcome more than 500 students from study hall each day who love the bright, comfortable area to study and work on group projects. Our #VHMakeIt makerspace also gives students weekly projects to learn, make, and do.
6 February 2020
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So you’ve been tasked with writing a marketing plan, and I’m guessing walking on hot coals sounds more enjoyable right about now. There is just something so terrifying about having to put all of the ideas and plans floating around in your head on paper that causes the words “marketing plan” to make you want to jump out of your skin. Luckily, I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be this way. You are capable of writing a marketing plan, and it won’t even cost you your sanity! So sit back, relax and discover the secrets to writing a marketing plan.
Before we jump into how, let...
4 February 2020
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The West Leyden High School Library, located in Northlake, IL is an amazing place to work, to engage, to read, to research, to tinker, to decompress and to learn! We are in a brand "new construction" library! Students have amazing opportunities here.
We have had and will continue to have successful author events in our library celebrating literature and diversity in our reading, while discovering our reading identity. We host targeted programming in our makerspace , allowing our students (makersquad) to teach their teachers how to "make." We are about...
3 February 2020
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Sarah Fuchs has been a resident of Bartlett for 31 years. It’s where she grew up, where she met her husband, and where they raised their family. Part of the reason why she and her family love Bartlett so much also has to do with the Bartlett Public Library District.
“The library provides enrichment opportunities for kids aside from school,” Sarah said. “Librarians are some of the best teachers for early childhood development.”
Sarah and her husband Neal Fuchs, a Bartlett Police Officer, have five boys [Tayden (8), Wyatt (7), Jasten (4), Emmett (2)...
27 January 2020
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Sometimes the boss tells you to do something and you really don’t want to. That was the situation I found myself in when our Executive Director suggested that we enter our Communications Team for the Library Journal Marketer of the Year Award based on the successful referendum campaign we accomplished, and I grudgingly agreed.
It really wasn’t on my radar and I didn’t think we had any chance of winning at all. We’re a mid-size library with two branches, about 100 staff, and have similar struggles and success stories as other local libraries. There are other library...
20 January 2020
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We wanted to start the year on a good foot. So we thought, why not have a little fun and do some sharing!?
Earlier in January 2020, RAILS hosted a seven-day celebration of libraries promoting themselves. We called it the My Library Is… Facebook Challenge! Each day, we posted a prompt with a different challenge. For example, we asked to hear more about the plans and tools libraries use to tell their story. Thank you to everyone who participated! Here are some things that we learned:
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14 January 2020
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Just in case you missed it, the December 2019 issue of the Illinois Library Association Reporter includes an article about the My Library Is... campaign. The article gives some practical tips on things every library can do to tell their story more effectively. For example, when is the last time someone advised you to "think small?" It might be just the advice you need to start telling your story, rather than worrying about how much time it will take or whether your story is...
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The My Library Is ... campaign
is a project of the Reaching Across Illinois Library System.