Book Clubs Update

Are you in a book club? If so, would you like to know how the library can help your club? If not, would you like to join one at the library?

You’ll find everything you need to know at http://www.cooklib.org/fiction-movies-music/book-clubs, including:

Schedule and upcoming titles for the book clubs led by Cook Memorial staff.

• Morning book discussion meets at Cook Park at 10 a.m. on the second Wednesday of the month. Led by Connie Regan.
• Evening book discussion meets at Cook Park at 7:30 p.m. on the fourth Wednesday of the month. Led by Ellen Jennings.
• Agatha Mystery Book Club meets at Cook Park at 1:30 on the first Monday of the month. Led by Mary Ann Constantine.
• Starting in September we will be adding a Nonfiction Book Club, which will meet at Cook Park at 2 p.m. on the first Friday of the month. Led by Haley Samuelson.
• Coming later next fall: Classics Book Club

Our staff also actively supports 120 book clubs in our community by recommending discussion titles and assisting club members in borrowing copies of the books discussed. Choose Authors and Themes from the drop-down menu under Book Clubs to see the list of over 200 authors for whose titles we have multiple-copy sets, and to see the books arranged by theme.

On the Book Clubs page you will also find links to our guidelines for book club support, the form your club can complete to register with us, recommended web sites for books clubs, and information about how your club can be “Booked for Dessert” at the library.

Summer Reminders

Libertyville Days is here again. That's a sure sign that summer has arrived. On Sunday, June 17, our Cook Park Library will be closed. Our Aspen Drive Library will be open as usual, from 1 pm to 5 pm.

Here a few seasonal reminders:

• Both of our locations will be closed on the following Sundays this summer: July1, 8, 15, 22 and 29, August 5, 12, 19,
  and 26, and September 2.
• During Libertyville Days, the Farmers Market, Car Fun on 21, and Out to Lunch in Libertyville, the Church Street exit from our Cook Park Library parking lot will be closed. Our Brainerd Street entrance has been widened to permit cars to exit as well as enter there. Please note: turning left from the Brainerd exit is prohibited.
• We now have a lovely courtyard for outdoor reading at our Cook Park Library.
• Our Bookmobile will continue to make neighborhood stops throughout the summer.
• Please enjoy our Summer Reading Club, and our Adult, Teen and Kids’ Summer Programs.

LINKin Follow-Up

To follow-up on last month's post about borrowing though the LINKin consortium items that Cook Memorial doesn't own, or that are currently checked out from our collection:

• Determining if an Item Can Be Requested  Only items with a status of Available or On Shelf can be requested. If there is a date in the status column, the item is checked out. If the status is Local Use Only, it means one of three things. The item is either non-circulating, too new to borrow, or the owning library is temporarily unable to lend it due to a situation such as construction or renovation
• Renewing LINKin Items  You can renew each LINKin item once in My Account, just as you would renew a Cook Memorial item. LINKin books renew for 14 days and AV items for 7 days.
• Checking LINKin Items Out  You must use the same library card number to check out a LINKin item that you used to request it.

See our Borrowing from Other Libraries page for more information.

Ask a Librarian Online

Did you know that Cook Memorial Reference Librarians are available to answer questions online during all the hours the library is open? You can use instant messaging to contact us via our Meebo widget. It’s found at the bottom of every search page in our catalog, and on all the pages of the Research a Topic portion of our site as well as the Homework Help pages of our Kids and Teens pages. You can also ask questions in person, by phone or email.

For over a decade we also participated in 24/7 chat reference through various services, most recently AskAway, which serves patrons all over Illinois. Our reference librarians staffed the service for several hours a week in exchange for the service being available to our patrons 24/7.

In recent years, as other means of finding information have become more commonplace, usage of the service has dropped off considerably. Additionally, we have observed that most patrons who submit questions to AskAway now assume they are connecting with librarians from their own libraries, and their questions usually relate to their own accounts, local collections or policies. Consequently, we have decided to stop participating in AskAway, and you will no longer see links to it on our web site.

While you can no longer chat live with a librarian when the library is closed, you can use the Meebo widget when we’re closed to leave us a message. Just be sure to include your email address and we’ll respond when the library opens.

And by the way…registration for Summer Reading Club has started. Let the big dreams begin! Here’s the scoop.