Library News
The big smiles on the faces of young and old as they walked through the doors of the Hendrickson Room for last weekend's LEGO train exhibit said it all. The exhibit, which drew 2,763 attendees, was a crowd pleaser for all ages. The attendance was 5% higher than in 2008 - the last time the train exhibit was here. The exhibit was put together by Northern Illinois LEGO Train Club members. Our next family event is Astronomy Night on Friday, October 15, at 7 p.m. in the Hendrickson Room. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labs Solar System Ambassador Jim Kovac will present “Exoplanets: Worlds Beyond Our Solar System.” Then everyone
The Arlington Belle, the Library's Readerboat float, paddled its way to a first-place finish at the July 4 parade. It won First Place for Creativity. This makes four straight First Place wins for float builder (and IT Manager) Mike Driskell who creates the floats in his spare time with the help of his family and friends. And it is the seventh First Place win for the Library, the others being in the Best Theme and Best Performance categories. Joining the Readerboat were the Library's bookmobile, Junior Library Volunteers, staff members - including Executive Director Paula Moore, and Trustee Luis Ramirez-Alonso passing out
Beginning June 1, the Library and its grounds will be smoke free. While smoking is currently not allowed in the Library, customers had been allowed to smoke outside of the building. This change is part of an update to the Library's Code of Conduct which was put in place to "provide and ensure a welcoming environment, including quiet areas for study and work."
New signs indicating this change will go up on June 1 in the parking lots and near Library entrances.
On May 11, the annual Volunteer Recognition Luncheon, funded by the Friends of the Library, was held to honor our dedicated group of library volunteers. We celebrated their combined contribution of 25,382 hours of service to the Library. What a difference our 248 volunteers make each day to help expand our services and add value to the lives of our residents! They work throughout the Library, on the bookmobile and at the Arlington Heights Senior Center. Volunteers assist staff with a mulitude of tasks, including helping out at library programs, staffing the Reading Room and teaching computer classes at the
For one night, it was like the Masters at the Library, or at least the masters of mini golf. The Library was turned into a very unique mini golf course featuring our extensive collection. The Caddy Stacks mini golf event was a fundraiser for a new aquarium for Kids' World and a chance to see the Library in a whole new way. From the big blue monster that welcomed all to Kids' World to the stunning floral display from Sylvia's Flowers, the entire building was transformed. We'd like to thank our participants and sponsors for their support of this event. Local businesses and individuals who made contributions include: Arlington Heights
On February 10, libraries across the state took photos of the happenings - big and small - at their libraries. It was part of an intiative by the Illinois Library Association to show how valuable libraries are to their communities. Putting on a puppet show is just one of the things that you can do at the Library. Click here for a quick look at some other ways the Library is used every day.
The members of the Current Events Group at the Arlington Heights Senior Center strive to stay well-informed and have been doing so each week for more than 20 years. On Thursday, January 28, the group celebrated its 1,000th session. It is the Library's longest-running group and started as an offshoot of a Great Books Discussion Group with Tom Bernett as the original leader. He created the model for discussion that they use today and led the group for 18 years. The current discussion leaders are George Galvan, Amy Burke, Robert Gilden, and until recently, Taft Lowell. The group has a very loyal following. Original
We want to thank our community for helping us earn a second consecutive "5-Star" rating from Library Journal magazine's annual Public Library Service ratings. Only 1% of the nation's public libraries receive a 5-star rating. To celebrate, we invite Arlington Heights residents to come into the Library during the week of January 11–17 to sign up for a prize. Courtesy of the Friends of the Library, four $25 gift cards to Barnes & Noble and a Wii game console will be awarded. Register at the Welcome Desk, Monday–Sunday, during open hours. Winners need not be present to win. One entry per
Arlington Heights is truly a community of good neighbors. Thanks to your generosity, the Library's first food drive collected more than 1,100 pounds of food for the CEDA and Wheeling Township food pantries. In addition, we collected more than 400 pounds of pet food and items for the Buddy Foundation.
This was our 12th year of collecting new children's books for Wheeling Township's Adopt-a-Family holiday basket program. And once again our community of readers responded generously, donating 600 books and bringing our total to 10,293.
We would like to thank everyone who participated - the many individuals and families who visited the Library; local book groups; staff at Toshiba Business Solutions, Rosseland Construction
For the second year in a row, Library Journal’s Index of Public Library Service gave Arlington Heights Memorial Library a Five-Star rating – making it one of America’s top-rated libraries. Only 1% of public libraries across the nation are awarded this distinction.