April 4, 2016
As you well and truly know (and as I reported at the beginning of this blog lo these many months ago) Evanston Public Library plays host to nesting peregrine falcons every single year. Well this year they’re back, baby! Nona and Squawker have set up shop on one of the columns outside the library where […]
April 1, 2016
You are no doubt aware that the Evanston Public Library contains a vast wealth of materials, the like of which may astound with its breadth. Why there are 485,000 print items in our collection alone. And because we are so very large and impressive, there are whole swaths of the collection you could easily never […]
March 29, 2016
Folks, if you missed this past Saturday’s Literary Salon on the highly charged topic of ethics in nonfiction for children, you are in luck. Panelists Barbara Rosenstock, Sally M. Walker, Candace Fleming, and Judith Fradin were amazing, and unafraid to tackle some of the thorniest topics surrounding the field today. The whole thing was captured […]
March 25, 2016
I was weeding the fiction the other day and I was in the “D” section. Nothing much to report there. A lot of authors that used to be hot but that aren’t really read much anymore. And as I was looking through the books, I pulled out one with a familiar name attached. “Christopher Darden”. […]
March 23, 2016
Assistant Circulation Manager Kimberly Hegelund is a Library Detective. Not in the official sense, mind you. She doesn’t put on a badge and a deerstalker cap when she does her work. She does, however, do some amazing detection that would floor Sherlock Holmes himself. After hearing about some of her latest adventures I persuaded her to […]
March 22, 2016
You know what the kids today are into? Ethics. Specifically, ethics in nonfiction. Could anything be more fun? Actually, no. At least, not the way I play it. As you may know I’ve started a Literary Salon series here in Evanston, IL that focuses primarily on the creation of literature for children and teens. And as […]
March 16, 2016
How much Hamil do we need in the Chicago area? A Hamil-TON! Bad joke, bad joke. You’ll forgive me. I get a little excited sometimes. And now we know that the musical Hamilton is slated to arrive in Chicago in September. Of course, if you’re a fan now then you’re going to need something to read while […]
March 14, 2016
Last week a patron sent us the following postcard last week. Note the 1933 date stamp: According to Assistant Library Director Paul Gottschalk, “In the 1900’s, EPL had several branches in public schools throughout Evanston.” The more you know!
March 9, 2016
The other day I was looking at the city’s website and ran across this fascinating article: Former Negro League Player Ray Knox Receives Key to the City. Turns out, we’ve had an honest-to-goodness Negro League baseball player here in Evanston for decades and yet only a few of us knew about him. As the piece […]
March 7, 2016
This is really cool. Folks, the fact of the matter is that getting good book recommendations can sometimes be a bit tricky. Now imagine, if you will, that there was a service out there where you could select the kinds of books or authors or genres you like and then you get personalized recommendations emailed to […]
