Library News Updates!

It's a busy Monday morning and I've got all the news that's fit to print.






First of all, congratulations to the Book Babes (forgive me for being self-congratulatory with that statement!), our Relay for Life team. The Book Babes were the top fundraising team for this year's Relay for Life Des Plaines/Park Ridge, earning Gold Level team status by raising $5254,00 and counting...(we're selling baked good and candy in the staff lunch room right now!) To the right you can see the truly dedicated members of the Book Babes who did the entire 12 hours of Relay for Life: Linda Knorr, Eileen Gladish, Gail Bradley, Joanie Sebastian, Veronica Schwartz (our fearless leader) and Kathy Kyrouac. What I want to know is: how do these women look so radiant and happy after 12 hours of walking and trying to stay warm in the wee hours of the morning? Proof that doing good for people is better than any beauty product on the market. It may also be the magic cookie bars that Linda made...

Other library members of the Book Babes included Francine Gralak and her daughter Kat, Pat Horn, Bob Blanchard, and yours truly, along with Bonnie Gaynor. All of us were grateful that our library buddies and family members came out to cheer us on, too. We walked, we sold raffle tickets and baked goods, we bought raffle tickets and snacks from other teams, we even bounced in the Moon Walk and hula hooped (hooray for the Web Services Hula Hoop Team!). I hope to have a short video to share with you later this week, featuring not only the Book Babes but many of the other Relay for Life teams and events.

Now -- I said I had all the news, so here's item number 2. The Library has distributed the last of the CFL bulbs that we had. The City of Des Plaines has a small supply left, so if you'd still like to get your three, free CFL bulbs, call the City first before arriving. We regret that the Library has no more bulbs to share, but we were excited to see how many people in Des Plaines want to take part in saving energy and becoming more "green."

News Flash Number Three: speaking of going green, we want to give you advance notice that the Library will soon be selling good quality, reusable tote bags for just ONE DOLLAR. That's right. Just a buck. Not too many useful things you can get for a dollar these days. But it's important to us to stop choking the Earth with plastic bags that don't decompose in landfills - we want to leave a positive legacy behind for the children we serve in our Youth Services department today, and that legacy doesn't include mountains of trash. So we'll be making these new, large and sturdy bags available to you for just one dollar. How can we do that? By buying responsibly and through a very generous donation from our amazing Friends of the Library. Watch this space for more information about the bags as soon as they arrive.

TA DA! News Flash Number Four: A reminder that the Memorial Day holiday falls on Monday, May 26 this year, so the Library will be closed next Sunday, May 25 and Monday, May 26, in observance. We will reopen on Tuesday, May 27 at 9 AM. We hope that you and yours have a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend, with time to reflect on the true meaning of Memorial Day.

That's all for now but if it's this busy on Monday, you know there will be more news later this week.

Meet the Book Babes at Relay for Life 2008!

Come on out to the Des Plaines/Park Ridge Relay for Life, Friday, May 16, beginning at 6 p.m. at Maine West High School in Des Plaines. This is the sixth year the library's team "The Book Babes" have been not just raising funds, but crushing the competition, in my humble opinion. Maybe that's just pride talking, because this year, I'm honored to be babe-a-licious enough (or, perhaps, bookish enough?) to be part of the library team. Want to help us make a difference? There are lots of ways to get involved.

You can make an online donation through our team's Web site: The Book Babes.
So far we have raised just over $4,000.00.

You can also come out to the Relay event and buy raffle tickets, snacks, luminaria and other items -- all proceeds going straight to Relay for Life. Our own team is raffling off an iPod Shuffle with a $25 iTunes gift card; a Gevalia coffee maker; and a beautiful necklace of freshwater pearls from a well-known local jeweler. We're also supplying the sweet treats to keep Relay walkers on their feet, so stop by the Book Babes booth for cookies, brownies, candy and more, with every penny benefiting cancer research. Can't make it? Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we spend a chilly night "bookin' for the cure."

Making this year's Relay extra special for us is that we're walking in honor of four of our co-workers, all cancer survivors and we're just overwhelmingly delighted about that:
From left to right: Kathy Kyrouac, our Webmaster; Pat Horne, one of our Children's Librarians; Bob Blanchard, Adult Services Librarian (aka "Johnny Bulb-Head"); and Barbara Saletnik, from Circulation Services.

Many of the Book Babes walk because we also have family members, friends and loved ones who have been lost to cancer or, on a more hopeful note, who have survived cancer thanks to the marvelous research being done for a cure. When I visited the Book Babes at Relay last year, I had already experienced the pain of losing two good friends to this terrible illness, but more recently had celebrated with another close friend upon his recovery. Since last year's Relay, my own father has been diagnosed with cancer, but after only a short round of treatment, he is doing better than ever. That tells me that the research and hard work is paying off, and made me determined to lend my own efforts to the cause of the Book Babes and Relay for Life. So please come out and see us tomorrow, Friday, May 16, 2008, at Maine West High School, 1755 S. Wolf Road in Des Plaines. We'll be setting up shop and opening for business around 6 p.m. and your favorite library folks would love it if you said hello. I'll try to post more pictures and an update over the weekend.

Don't forget to pick up your free CFL bulbs

The library has received a second shipment of CFL bulbs to share with Des Plaines residents. If you didn't receive yours during our first giveaway, on Earth Day, stop by soon - bulbs are almost GONE. In fact, between April 22-23 this year, we gave away 5,000 bulbs and we have distributed more than 2,000 bulbs in the past week.

Every Des Plaines household is eligible to receive THREE free CFL bulbs, a real value considering the price of these bulbs at retail stores. Light bulbs are available at the Information/Registration Desk on the library's first floor. Please make sure you take an informational handout with your bulbs. The handout contains important information on proper disposal of the bulbs after they burn out. CFL bulbs contain small amounts of mercury and care must be taken when disposing of them. They may not be placed in your regular garbage pick-up, and please take care to keep the bulbs away from children and pets. There are plenty of drop-off locations available so disposing of the bulbs is very convenient - and, CFLs last so much longer than regular bulbs, you won't need to dispose of them for a long, long time.

Bulbs are going fast and when they're gone, they're gone. So come in and get yours today, and while you're here, say hello and check out some new books, DVDs or CDs. The bulbs, which are being used to reduce energy and prevent greenhouse gas emissions, were made available to Des Plaines as a member of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus through a grant from the Northern Illinois Energy Project (NIEP) and the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NIEP). For even more information on how to "go green," use our helpful Web guide and watch for the City of Des Plaines' "DEEP GREEN" programs, at locations throughout the city.