Reading with Patrick. Read Between the Ravines. Image credit: Lake Forest Public Library.

Talking About Important Topics Through Reading

11 March 2021
Dan Bostrom
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Lake Forest Library and Lake Bluff Public Library are proud to present their joint nonfiction reading program called Read Between the Ravines. This Two Communities, One Nonfiction Book program brings together Lake Forest and Lake Bluff with the purpose of enhancing nonfiction literacy and inspiring discussion around real-world issues. 

Read Between the Ravines started in 2019 as Deep Freeze Read. In 2019, a group of library staff and administration at both Lake Forest and Lake Bluff libraries selected The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan from a list of titles suggested...

Story by Amy Ambrosius on Mar 9, 2021

9 March 2021
Anonymous
Comments: 0

I am the Director at a small and very rural library, Rushville Public Library.  My children are grown and we were cleaning out our garage. We had accumulated several sleds over the years. As with most of my items, I try and see if our library can use them before disposing of. We had another patron give us this art easel.  I brought it outside and quickly made a sign.  My husband dropped off the sleds and we just kind of threw it all together!  I honestly did not care if the sleds made their way back to the library. Well, they have all made it back, several...

Library shelving. Photo courtesy of Ron Barshinger (2021).

Every Trick in (and out of) the Book

8 March 2021
Dan Bostrom
Comments: 0

Textbook affordability and accessibility issues are not new. We have seen alarming articles on how the rising costs of required course materials is overburdening college students and thwarting their efforts to achieve their educational and professional goals. But academic libraries are stepping up to advocate for students and to provide resources for both students and faculty and to support the instructional mission of their institutions.
 
During the Fall 2017 semester, Northern Illinois University Libraries established the Textbook Affordability Task Force with the aim of...

Story Walk Encourages Family Time, Reading, & Exercise

5 March 2021
Stacy Palmisano
Comments: 0

My Library Is part of a group of small libraries in rural west central Illinois that has been focusing on Early Childhood Literacy with the support of the Tracy Family Foundation. Prior to March 2020 most of the participating libraries had expanded our programming and services for children 0-5 and their families.  Once the pandemic hit, all in person programs ceased.  Many of us attempted some form of on-line story time, with limited success. Our passive programs, such as the Rubber Ducky Club, continued but we wanted another way to engage children and families.

One idea was to set...

Story by Kim Murphy on Mar 2, 2021

2 March 2021
Kimberly Murphy
Comments: 0

We have been holding Youth Art month annually for many years.  We invite all the art teachers in our school districts to bring student artwork to display the entire month of March. We would have an evening art reception which brought moms, dads, grandma, grandpas etc  who would come and look at the students artwork.  We would provide "library punch," cookies and music.  Of course COVID has put the wrench in this large annual event.  So this year we went virtual and made it ALL ages.  We asked the local teachers, students and other members of our community...

Image credit: Janine Asmus.

The Virtual (and Physical) Heart of the School

2 March 2021
Dan Bostrom
Comments: 0

As March marches in, I can't help but think where I was a year ago--give or take a week.  As I reflect upon the bustling school library I left, and the one I am currently in, I have to work hard to conjure up what was.  Pandemically speaking, I (and dare I say many of my school librarian colleagues) have had to reinvent themselves and their methods very quickly. Creating virtual libraries and displays, engaging book talks, collaboratively creating protocols for curbside checkout and seamless returns have all been a part of this year long journey.  

Pre-pandemic, school librarians...

Hudson Area Library Interlibrary Loan totes

The World Expands While It Contracts

25 February 2021
Stacy Palmisano
Comments: 0

At the end of 2020, Hudson Area Public Library District found a hopeful and fun fact while reviewing patron statistics. Out of 977 active patron cards, 955 of those cards had been used in the prior six months. While their world was closing in, patrons – almost all of them – were using their cards to explore the universe. That’s smart pandemic behavior. Interlibrary loan is extremely important to this little library. When the Illinois Library Delivery System resumed services, savvy patrons were ecstatic. As Jo Walton said in Among Others, “Interlibrary loan is a wonder of the world...

Encouraging the Creative Spirit

22 February 2021
Dan Bostrom
Comments: 1

We are all born with an innate creative spirit. As humans, we have the instinctive drive to create, and as someone who works in early literacy and with young children, my job is to nurture that creative spirit in our youngest library patrons. When I plan programs, my primary goal always revolves around the question, “How can I encourage children to think freely and creatively?”  

One of my initiatives (and a personal favorite) is Preschool Art, a monthly process-based program designed to give young children the resources and space they need to nourish their artistic talents. Each...

Champagne glasses

Princeton Public Library's New Year’s Eve Non-Event

19 February 2021
Stacy Palmisano
Comments: 0

The staff at the Princeton Public Library held a New Year’s Eve Non-event fundraiser this past December. We thought it would be an apropos way to bring a laugh to the community and say goodbye to 2020.

A non-event stresses the benefit of staying home over the inconveniences and expenses of attending traditional formal events. The invitations highlighted such things as not having to worry about hiring a babysitter, buying a new dress or finding parking, suggesting that the contributor instead make a donation in the amount of one or more those extra "night-out" expenses. This year we...

Still image from podcast

Quincy's Funding Success Story in Recent Sparks Podcast

19 February 2021
Nicole Zimmermann
Comments: 0

Representatives from Quincy Public Library (QPL) recently sat down and Zoomed in for a RAILS Sparks podcast to discuss their successful marketing campaign to stave off library budget cuts.

QPL’s Executive Director Kathleen Helsabeck and Assistant Director & Marketing Coordinator Burgundy Hill talked with RAILS Executive Director Deirdre Brennan about how budget cuts in previous years made it clear to the staff at QPL that they had to do something meaningful and impactful. They worked with patrons willing to share...

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