April 29, 2016
I don’t know if you saw it, but recently there was an excellent online New Yorker article on one of my favorite websites of all times: Awful Library Books. If you haven’t seen the blog before, it’s just a sheer delight. All librarians have, at one point or another, weeded (removed from the collection due […]
April 28, 2016
Good morning! As the Collection Development Manager of Evanston Public Library, it’s my job to buy the books for the library. Along the way, I notice some pretty interesting titles that folks might want to know about. So hold onto your hats while I promote some of the most interesting books coming out in the […]
April 8, 2016
*yawn* Poetry. Am I right? If it’s not your thing it’s not your thing and no amount of jibber jabbing is going to change that. So thought this librarian for a number of years (and my own mother’s a published poet, so you know it’s not due to lack of exposure). Seems my old attitude […]
March 7, 2016
This is really cool. Folks, the fact of the matter is that getting good book recommendations can sometimes be a bit tricky. Now imagine, if you will, that there was a service out there where you could select the kinds of books or authors or genres you like and then you get personalized recommendations emailed to […]
March 4, 2016
“If you’ve ever been trapped in a refrigerator only to have the door flung open just before you black out, you have some sense of what Chicago spring feels like.” – Contrary Motion by Andy Mozina Happy Chicago Incorporation Day! Yes, on this date in history (March 4, 1837) Chicago was officially incorporated as a […]
March 3, 2016
You didn’t hear it from me, but you know Spotlight, the movie that just won an Academy Award for Best Picture? Did you know it was based on a book from 2002? Only, see, the book has a different title than the movie. Here’s the book: Now as of this blog post, that book is […]
March 1, 2016
Look, I gotta level with you here. The Evanston Public Library collection? It’s massive, man. We have 485,000 print items alone, which is kind of unusual for a city this size. We’re proud of our collection as well. Have you ever looked, I mean really looked, at our art books? How about our music scores? […]
February 26, 2016
If you’re a regular reader of the Evanston Roundtable then this title probably caught your eye this month: Evanston is in the Midst of a Reading ‘Crisis’ says ETHS. The piece goes on to describe how the number of incoming freshmen who require reading intervention has more than doubled since 2011, and that number isn’t […]
February 24, 2016
This is the first in a series of posts highlighting important businesses or areas in Evanston. You wouldn’t think that at the age of 37 a person could become a curmudgeon, but there is at least one area in which slot neatly into the definition. Hacking. It’s not that I don’t like it or think […]
February 20, 2016
In this age where authors are expected to tweet, update their Facebook pages, use Instagram to promote their books, and even dabble in Pinterest/Snapchat/what-have-you, it’s really enough to make you nostalgic for an era where an author could write a book, have it be a massive success, and then generally disappear from public view if […]
