News from RAILS & Libraries

The Association of Illinois School Library Educators (AISLE) and the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Awards released a statement highlighting the importance, of its book awards in encouraging students to read widely. This statement has been co-signed by the Illinois Heartland Library System...

The Illinois Library Association (ILA) is seeking witness slip support for amending the acquisition of treasurer bonds for libraries. HB 4224 is scheduled for a committee hearing on Thursday, April 4, at 8:01 a.m. All Illinois library advocates are encouraged to support the bill prior to the hearing...

Explore More Illinois, RAILS’ online cultural and recreational pass program for Illinois libraries, welcomes its newest attraction, the Western Illinois Museum in Macomb! The Western Illinois Museum is located in the heart of rural West Central Illinois and offers a welcoming, small-town experience...

We sat down with some of our current board members and asked them to reflect on their board experience. Watch the 2.5-minute video to learn why they ran, what they’ve gotten out of it, and who should apply to join. Please share the video with coworkers, trustees, and colleagues who would make a...

Explore More Illinois, RAILS’ online cultural and recreational pass program for Illinois libraries, welcomes its newest attraction, Historic Auto Attractions in Roscoe! Experience all the history and artifacts that Historic Auto Attractions has to offer. The museum is so much more than cars. With...

The La Grange Park Public Library will be closed beginning Monday, April 8, to pack up our temporary location and move into the renovated library building at 555 N. La Grange Road. We anticipate this move will take approximately four weeks and the library should reopen on Monday, May 6. Library...

RAILS and Western Illinois University (WIU) are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024 Western Illinois Digital Access Mini-Grants and Chromebook Lending Grants. These grants were made possible by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) Office of Broadband. The...

The Gail Borden Public Library District celebrated its momentous 150th anniversary with a huge community birthday party on March 19, 2024. It was heartwarming to welcome so many people to this celebration. The Library was honored by a city proclamation by Elgin Mayor David Kaptain and a State...

Please join us on March 27, 2024, at 11 am CT for our next B'LONG Meeting! For those who do not know about B'LONG, we are the Bookmobile and Library Outreach Networking Group, a group of outreach specialists, librarians, managers, and support staff dedicated to bringing outreach services to meet the...

The Northern Illinois University Libraries' new exhibit, Alebrijes: Creatures of a Dream World, is featured in an episode for the WNIJ Under Rocks podcast at https://www.northernpublicradio.org/wnij-news/2024-03-21/alebrijes-out-…. A digital...

Would you like to work with a dedicated team of colleagues representing all types and sizes of libraries to help shape the future of a member-driven, vibrant, and innovative library system? RAILS is seeking nominees for five volunteer positions on its Board of Directors. Two at-large seats (to be...

This month, Dan and Monica highlight the successful launch of the School Library Advocacy through Education (SLATE) data dashboard and emphasize the value of the Freedom Lifted EDI course that is available to RAILS members. Plus, Monica breaks down all you need to know about library-related...

A six-minute, step-by-step video tutorial on how to create an L2 account is now available on the RAILS YouTube channel. All Illinois library employees and board members are encouraged to create an account on the Library Directory & Learning Calendar (L2) website . L2 has a statewide directory of...

Laura McGrath, deputy director at Skokie Public Library, is standing for election as a Director-at-Large for the PLA Board of Directors. Learn more about her great work in libraries: https://skokielibrary.info/staff/60/laura-mcgrath/.

ATLAS is gearing up for another continuing education event: Storytime, Outreach. Oh My! How do we create community for our littlest patrons? How do we connect with our daycares? What can I do to better connect to the diverse communities we serve? Join experts Rosie Camargo, Cultural Literacy...