Digi-Fare

Your summer trip just got more entertaining! Thanks to Cook Memorial's Digi-Fare, you can take the library (books, audiobooks, music and magazines) with you wherever you go, without giving up precious space in your suitcase. Want an introduction to and a demonstration of these electronic resources? Come to the Digi-Fare Festival at our Aspen Drive Library on June 22. Stop in any time between 1pm and 4pm to try out the new resources and enjoy food and prizes. No registration necessary.

And speaking of summer trips, the theme for this year's Summer Reading Club is, appropriately enough, Have Book...Will Travel. Visit any of our locations to register and start keeping track of all the places you read this summer.

Summer Reading, Learning and Fun

This year’s Summer Reading Club theme is Have Book…Will Travel. We want to know about all the places you read or listen to books, from the breakfast table to your car, to the beach and beyond. Read in 12 places and you’ll be eligible for prizes! Stop by any of our locations beginning June 1 to register all members of your family.

Summer is also for learning and we’ll be offering opportunities to increase your knowledge about subjects as diverse as Medicare and olive oil. If becoming more tech savvy is one of your summer goals, you can sign up for free computer classes beginning June 8. You will also want to attend our Digi-Fare Festival at Aspen Drive on June 22 to learn about all the downloadable and streaming services the library will soon be offering for music and movies as well as books, audiobooks and magazines.

Summer is for fun too, and we are including a healthy dose of that as well. Our Authors Out Loud series will include Jeff Shaara of Civil War fiction renown, Will Schwalbe, author of the bestselling The End of Your Life Book Club, and Helene Wecker, the Libertyville native whose debut novel is one of the most hotly anticipated books of the summer. Our book clubs will be in full swing, with the Classics club offering movies as well as book discussions. Fun program topics include a salute to the Lone Ranger, a chance to tour Adlai Stevenson’s home, and a musical performance by the Encore! vocal ensemble.

See the entire adult line-up. Of course, we have summer programs for kids too. View a calendar with summer events for all ages and links to register.

Friends of the Library Book Sale

A patron contacted Ear this week to ask how to email the Friends of the Library for information about donating books and DVDs for future Friends’ sales.

The Friends have a brand new email address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . More useful info:

Due to very limited storage space, we have been unable to accept donations for Friends' sales in recent months. However, in preparation for next month’s sale, we will begin accepting donations June 1.

The sale will be held in the meeting room at our Cook Park location. Here are the hours:
Friday, June 21 – 12:30pm – 6pm:   Preview sale for members of the Friends. You can join at the door for $5.
Saturday, June 22 – 9am to 4pm:  Open to the public
Sunday,   June 23 – 1 pm to 4pm: Open to the public

Proceeds from the sale will be used by the Friends to fund the library's reading programs (the costs of supplies and prizes) and finance equipment and supplies not covered in the library budget.

Our Early Learning Center

Question: What is the Early Learning Center all about?

To answer this question, Ear turned to Melissa Henderson, Children's Department Manager. She responded with an explanation and an invitation:

Thinkers as diverse and brilliant as Albert Einstein and Mr. Rogers have agreed that children learn through play. While children don't need to be taught to want to play, they do need have access to well-designed, well thought out programs and activities that encourage play with a purpose: learning!

The Early Learning Center offers a hands-on literacy play space for children ages 0-5 years and their caregivers. Located in the Children’s Department at Cook Park Library in Libertyville, the ELC has activities designed to stimulate, model and encourage repetition of fun activities that help children become ready to read.

Each month, the ELC offers a selection of activities, manipulatives, and books that feature a concept such as numbers or colors or a topic such as families or health & safety. The activities have been developed to support the Every Child Ready to Read initiative, which addresses 5 critical pre-literacy skills: talking, writing, singing, reading, and playing.

The ELC is part of the library’s commitment to early literacy; in addition to the ELC, the library has long offered engaging storytimes and programming and Early Literacy Kits, which extend these activities into the home life of the child.

Next time you’re in the Cook Park Library, take a look inside the ELC. Better still, make a special visit with an early learner!

Melissa and her staff would also like to invite parents, grandparents, child care providers and preschool teachers to attend an Every Child Ready to Read – Early Literacy Workshop at 7pm, Monday, April 29 at our Aspen Drive Library. Register