Support your local library on February 10: Snapshot Day

Let’s face it, we need libraries and libraries need us.  A library is as author Ray Oldenburg would put it a Great Good Place. Not home or work, the library is that third place where the community gets together and democracy happens.

A place to bring your kids and grand kids. To write a business plan or read Rilke. I like to hang out and browse in the stacks for an old mystery by  John MacDonald or Lawrence Block (but then I am a hardcore intellectual.)

"Turn back the clock day" May, 2009

Blogging for Ageless North Shore has taken us to the Evanston Library to see Warhola, a film about Andy Warhol’s ancestral home in Eastern Europe. To Glencoe to celebrate that Library’s centennial year with Professor Michael Ebner’s engaging history of the North Shore. To Highland Park for a Turn Back the Clock day to commemorate the Federal Writer’s Project. We have been to readings, films, discussions, plays and events sponsored by our local libraries.

Libraries like most other public institutions are feeling the pressure of the state’s financial crisis. And while, we on the North Shore sometimes think we are insulated from the outside world, on Monday, February 1, the Evanston City Council voted 6-3 to close that city’s branch libraries. (click here for full story)

So, if you are library fan, here’s what you do about it. Check out Save Illinois Libraries Facebook Page. They have the latest info on which legislators to write/call/text or otherwise get your point across.

Then on Wednesday, February 10, go to your local library for Snapshot Day. You’ll be able to fill out a very brief survey about your library visit, and even provide testimonials about how much you love your library. Libraries will also be encouraged to take pictures to create a photo record of just how popular the library is.

And send us YOUR SNAPSHOT LIBRARY PICTURES. We’ll show you our library pride if you show us yours!

In the meantime, here’s a few Highland Park Library events that caught our eye:

Tonight: Thursday February 4, 7:00 pm. East on Central hosts an evening of readings featuring writers who have just completed a workshop on “Performing Your Poetry and Prose” with the talented members of ARTicuLIT Readers Theater. Formed in 2006, the mission of the ARTicuLIT Readers Theater is to enhance the written word through dramatic intepretation and provide audiences with a stimulating theatrial experience.

Monday, Feburary 7, 8:00 pm. Living Oprah author, Robyn Okrant spent a year following the lifestyle suggestions from Oprah’s TV Show, O, The Oprah Magazine, and Oprah’s Web site.

Okrant began this experiment as a blog. Here is her first entry from January 1, 2008.

Oprah/Robyn

Well, here we are – January 1, 2008 – and I am starting on my Oprah-defined life path for the year.
A little about the project…
I will be following the suggestions and advice prescribed by Oprah Winfrey on her television show, on her website and in her magazines. Why? Well, for several reasons. On one hand, I am concerned about the manner in which power is wielded by celebrities and on the other hand, I am doubly concerned about how willing we are to hand over our power to our gurus.
I believe the most influential American public figure today to be Oprah Winfrey. Many of us allow her to dictate what we read, what we watch, what we listen to, how we cook, exercise, organize, and how we vote. We are convinced by her powerful public persona that her way is the right way. The road to happiness and success.

And here is Robyn Okrant on December 31, 2008

On a quick calculation, it looks like I watched 262 episodes this year. I have to say, when the final credits rolled this morning, I felt as if I just finished a marathon. Well, a marathon that one can complete by sitting on one’s butt for 262 hours. Of course, the actual finish line won’t be crossed until tonight at 11:59:59. The rest of the day will still be lived as a committed Oprah acolyte.

Is she really an acolyte or is she still concerned about “power of celebrity?” Or both? Find out on Monday. At the library. It’s free.