News from RAILS & Libraries

The Kankakee School District and Kankakee Public Library love to collaborate with each other when the opportunity arises. The My Library Is…Grant gave us the opportunity to work together to support KSD students’ creativity. Kankakee School District has held a district-wide Young Authors contest for...

Dan Bostrom, RAILS Member Engagement Manager talks with Eugene Giudice, Senior Research Services Training Specialist at Dentons. Eugene talks about his role at Dentons, a large law firm with locations around the world. By providing specialized training and research services, Eugene brings value to...

The social emotional wellness of our students is always a priority. The question becomes how can we make sure that students are getting the support and assistance they need when they need it. Unfortunately, there is not one set solution that meets the needs of all. The best solution is to offer...

Dan Bostrom, RAILS Member Engagement Manager talks with Juanita Harrell, Law Library Manager at DuPage County Law Library. Juanita discusses how the library serves a wide audience including litigants, attorneys, judges, and the general public. This library has a unique mission to help everyone...

River Forest Library is the final destination for an elaborate marriage proposal. On Sunday, February 20, 2022, the Library was fortunate to be part of a very special event. Christopher had planned an ambitious adventure for his girlfriend Allison - that included scavenger hunting, puzzle solving...

A long time ago, in a library far, far away, someone suggested the first "summer reading" program, and for a LONG time, that is exactly what most library summer programs consisted of - reading. Nothing more, nothing less. Different programs count pages or days or minutes, but reading has been at the...

In February, McHenry County Youth Librarians encouraged residents to get out and discover the wealth of resources available in county libraries. To celebrate Library Lovers Month, the McHenry County Library Lover’s Expedition began February 1 and was open to all residents of the county and...

The library at Deer Creek-Mackinaw High School has made a positive impact in the lives of students in that it has become a place where students can meet, become friends, and have positive interactions with one other. It is a place where all students are welcome, and a place where all students...

The Chicago Collections Consortium is a nonprofit organization of over 60 libraries, museums, and cultural organizations all working together for the promotion and preservation of Chicago's history and culture. CCC's cornerstone initiative EXPLORE CHICAGO COLLECTIONS portal provides free and open...

Debbie Baaske, acting Member Engagement Manager talks with Elizabeth Quinlan, Foundation Librarian at the MacArthur Foundation. Liz shares how she supports the more than 170 staff of one of the largest grant making organizations in the United States. Liz, who considers herself an “Information...

That wasn’t quite the tagline for our Welcome Back to the Library campaign last fall, but we did offer a chance to win McDonald’s and Target gift cards! As the summer of 2021 approached, Warrenville Library was starting to plan for a fall return to pre-pandemic hours and services. We were hopeful...

After years of hearing other librarians talk about Axis 360, our District librarians were anxious to give it try. It seemed even more ideal after having limited access to books during the Pandemic. With our students now having 1:1 devices, this was the perfect time to really push ebooks and having a...

Debbie Baaske, acting Member Engagement Manager talks with Colby Maddox, Manager of the Resource Center at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. The collection houses over 25,000 commercial and archival recordings, videos, books, photos, documents and periodicals. The main users of the...

Northern Illinois University has just released its 2022 entry for #ColorOurCollections, an annual social media festival hosted by the New York Academy of Medicine Library between February 7-11, during which libraries, museums, archives, and other cultural institutions around the world share free...

Debbie Baaske, acting Member Engagement Manager talks with Meredith Payne, librarian at the Illinois Service Resource Center. The ISRC provides behavior support for students who are deaf, hard of hearing, or visually impaired in Illinois. Meredith describes the library that consists of an expanding...