Meet a Hero @ Your Library
From heroes in capes, to heroes in war, to heroes next door, heroes inspire us with their actions and attitudes. Heroes are the focus of a new reading program across CU this February to April. Our library is coordinating the project, funded by a $100,000 LSTA grant.
Inspiring Books & Free Events Across CU
Community partners, many of whom will host programs and offer their own book suggestions, are: The Urbana Free Library, Parkland College Library, University of Illinois Library, Champaign Unit #4 School District, Urbana School District 116, and The News-Gazette.
For the next three months, we’ll recommend three of our favorite hero books for adults, teens, and children. We encourage you to read them, then look for opportunities to talk about them online.
Our calendar is full of free, hero-focused events for all ages, now through April. This month’s highlights include author Elizabeth Berg talking about her WWII novel, Dream When You’re Feeling Blue, and Vernon Burton, author of The Age of Lincoln. See the article below for details.
Funding for this grant was awarded by the Illinois State Library (ISL), a Division of the Office of Secretary of State, using funds provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), under the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).
Your Gift Helps Sustain Excellent Collections and Programs
On January 6, 2008, the new Champaign Public Library opened to the public. More than 5,000 people visited the library that day and a record 10,884 items were checked out. Each day since, the library has experienced heavy use by community members.
Our beautiful, state-of-the-art library is the result of public and private funding. Many people have given generously to ensure that Champaign has a public library that our community can point to with pride.
We have the opportunity to make the Champaign Public Library one of the premier public libraries in the nation. Private dollars can make this happen and I encourage you to consider making a gift to help sustain excellent collections and programs for all ages.
To Make Your Gift
Use our online giving form or mail a check to: Champaign Public Library Foundation, 200 W. Green St., Champaign, IL 61820. To make a gift of stock or learn about other ways to support the library, contact Donna Pittman, the library’s development director, at 217/403–2048 or dpittman@champaign.org.
Thank you for considering a contribution to the Champaign Public Library Foundation that will make our community an even better place to live, work, and raise a family.
— Wesley Curtis
President, Champaign Public Library Foundation
On Board with...Michael J. La Due
Meet your library leaders through this series of profiles. Michael La Due is a member of the Champaign City Council as well as the Library Board of Trustees.
Describe the importance of public libraries, in 20 words or fewer.
The public library is the place where all the possibilities that make America are renewed with each passage through the door.
Describe your background and what you bring to the board.
After a year at McGill University in Montreal, I came to the U of I to study the history of ideas, earning a master’s degree in European history. I have worked in libraries as a page, shelver, archivist, and preservation assistant. After my B.A., I worked at the Illinois State Historical Library and Society, published a chapbook of poetry, published a feature in the Illinois Times, and went to graduate school.
I was elected to the City Council to represent the district Champaign’s Main Library is in, where it has been reborn in our beautiful new building. I may be the longest-serving trustee, and am the City Council liaison to the Board, a position mandated by the joint governance agreement with the city.
I have learned much from jazz, and was privileged to shop for music with Harold Mabern, buy coffee for Cecil Payne, have a drink with Elvin Jones, and talk with Dizzy Gillespie about what to listen for in a trumpet player. I interviewed the late Steve Lacy, the greatest soprano saxophonist of the last fifty years.
I embrace and explore the world in the poetry I have written for many years, and have publicly read all over the country. C. Michael Curtis, retired senior editor of The Atlantic, once sent me a hand-written rejection letter urging me to “seek a less competitive venue.” Emily Dickinson had the same experience at The Atlantic, though not as personal.
What have you read, watched, or listened to lately?
Most recently I have read For a Vast Future Also: Essays from the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, edited by Thomas Schwartz, The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, and We Real Cool by bell hooks. The most absorbing film I saw recently is just called, simply, Edvard Munch, and no, it will not make you scream, though it is 174 minutes long!
Two Authors Lead Off Hero Series
Two different kinds of writing about two different kinds of heroes kick off an array of free events for the Get Inspired! Meet a Hero @ Your Library community-wide reading program.
Author Vernon Burton will visit our library at 7 pm Thursday, February 7, to discuss the political, social, and economic conditions in the decades surrounding Lincoln’s presidency. Burton is the winner of the 2007 Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for nonfiction for his book The Age of Lincoln.
On Sunday, February 10, at 2 pm, Elizabeth Berg (pictured above) will talk about the home front heroines of her World War II novel, Dream When You’re Feeling Blue, published by Random House in 2007. A book signing follows each presentation.
Burton’s Lincoln book has won praise for bringing a fresh perspective to the assessment of Lincoln and his achievements as president. Burton is Professor of History and Sociology at UIUC and Director of I-CHASS, the Illinois Center for Computing in Humanities, Arts, and Social Science. He is the author or editor of eight books including In My Father’s House Are Many Mansions, a Pulitzer Prize nominee.
The prolific Berg is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous novels including Open House, which was an Oprah’s Book Club Selection in 2000. Berg’s Durable Goods and Joy School were both selected as ALA Best Books of the Year.
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February 08
Event for Book-Loving Friends
“I Love Books!” is the theme for a gathering of Library Friends on Thursday, February 14. Bring your friends who might become Friends, too. Come at 4 pm for guitar and dulcimer music by Hilary Valentine and treats from Latte Da! Cafe. At 4:30 pm, Library Director Marsha Grove will speak about the design of the new library.
At 5 pm, we’ll enjoy guided tours including the FriendShop, the Friends’ used book store on the lower level. Regular hours for the shop are 1:30 to 5:30 pm Sundays.
Donor List Corrections
We extend our apologies to these contributors to the new library whose names were omitted or listed incorrectly in the donor list published in the News-Gazette. Thank you to Robert and Sue Boucek, Joanne Peterson, and Pat and Tom Phillips.
Tags Take You to Related Books
Now when you look up a book in the catalog, you can link to related books using subject tags. The tags are courtesy of Library Thing, a website where more than 270,000 everyday readers have posted book reviews and labeled those books with tags.
For example, you might look up Elizabeth Berg’s Dream When You’re Feeling Blue. On the screen showing details about the book, in the lower left corner, you’ll see a dozen or so large words of various sizes. These are all terms that other readers have tagged this book with.
The larger the word (the tag), the more often it’s been used. So, if books about “sisters” interest you, click “sisters” to link to more books about sisters in the catalog. If World War II is of interest, click that tag, and so on.
Friends Thank Book Sale Helpers
The Library Friends’ seasonal book sale last November raised a total of $13,259 in support of the library.
Thanks go to Robeson Inc. for donating the space for the sale, to cadets from Lincoln’s Challenge for helping load books for moving, and to all of these Friends members for their varied roles in the sale’s success: Louise Allen, Nancy Jo Allen, Allen Avener, Margaret Bargh, Joy Bilger, Charles Blair, Bob Blissard, John Braeman, Kim Buskirk, Betsye Byrnes, Ann Campbell, Don and Judy Charlton, Jeremy Coulter, Kathleen and Jon Crowder, Bernadette Easley, Matt Eastham, Jenna Finch, Judy Geistlinger, Virginia Gordon, Evelyn Harness, Bruce Hinely, Harvey and Adella Hodges, Katharine Jones, Teresa Jones, Berta Lewin, Barry Lewis, Linda Lorenz, Bonnie Markiewicz, David McCall, Michelle Mendiola, Cynthia Mitchell, Judy Moll, Tom Newfer Emswiler, John Nine, Jim Payne, Rod Peterson, Rob Roman, Pat Rowland, Deb and Ray Sanderson, Ann Marlow Sandhu, La Nita and Bob Schuster, Pat Shepard, Noreen Shonder, Millie Sims, Clyde and Ann Smith. Joan Walton, Linda Weber, and Kevin Womack.
Used books, DVDs, CDs, and unique gifts are now sold by the Friends in the FriendShop (pictured above), on the lower level of the library, open Sundays from 1:30 to 5:30 pm.
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