Cook Memorial Public Library Podcast

This second week in April is National Library Week – a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support. For a special National Library Week podcast episode we interviewed some of our own librarians about what a day on the job looks like and also…

This second week in April is National Library Week - a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support.

For a special National Library Week podcast episode we interviewed some of our own librarians about what a day on the job looks like and also interviewed Vernon Hills High School students to get their guesses on what they think librarians do.

Susie, Andrea, and Nate recommend a powerful new memoir. They try to put into words why the book had such an impact on each of them.

Read Andrea's original Educated blog post on Shelf Life.

Check out Educated from the library

Nate and AV Librarian Becky King meet up once again to talk about the past year in film and last Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony. They discuss the night's hits and misses plus share a few personal favorites they hope aren't forgotten.

Find out what movies you may have missed and how you can use your library to catch-up with all of them.

Chris Harris is the author of the New York Times bestselling I’m Just No Good at Rhyming: and Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups. This impressive debut of children’s poetry has been making the rounds here at Cook Library and quickly become a staff favorite, provoking unhealthy amounts of laugh out loud moments. We…

Chris Harris is the author of the New York Times bestselling I'm Just No Good at Rhyming: and Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups.

This impressive debut of children's poetry has been making the rounds here at Cook Library and quickly become a staff favorite, provoking unhealthy amounts of laugh out loud moments. We can't recommend this collection enough, especially if you're a fan of Shel Silverstein (and really who isn't).

We cover a lot of ground in this conversation including why poetry was the right fit for Harris, where his sense of humor comes from, writing Top 10 lists for David Letterman, collaborating with illustrator Lane Smith, and of course, what he's been reading lately.

Cook Memorial Public Library Director David Archer makes his podcast premiere! We chat about the recently announced Aspen Drive Library construction project.

Find out what the expanded Vernon Hills library will look like, the demands and needs that will be addressed, and learn what kind of planning and preparation go into a community construction project.

Visit the library's Aspen Expansion page at www.cooklib.org/aspen to see architectural renderings of the building and read updates on the project.

In December Erica set some reading resolutions for herself, which you can read about in her blog post. We thought we would check in with Erica and get some tips on those resolutions, get some good reading recommendations and get some tips on another common reading resolution - reading more books (she read 150 last year, so she's a good person to ask).

Titles mentioned in this episode:

• Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
• The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
• The Not-Quite States of America by Doug Mack - read Erica's review here
• An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Alexander
• Walkable City by Jeff Speck - available through LINKin libraries
• Anathem by Neal Stephenson
• Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Each year Jo Hansen meticulously culls, analyses, organizes, edits, and publishes our selections for the year’s best Fiction and Nonfiction. 2017 produced the library’s largest booklets yet! Jo comes back onto the podcast to talk about how the booklets were compiled, our year in books, and highlight a few of the titles you’ll find in…

Each year Jo Hansen meticulously culls, analyses, organizes, edits, and publishes our selections for the year's best Fiction and Nonfiction.

2017 produced the library's largest booklets yet! Jo comes back onto the podcast to talk about how the booklets were compiled, our year in books, and highlights a few of the titles you'll find in these annual booklets.

Be sure to stop by the Reference desk at either library to snag a copy before they run out.

View the Fiction and Nonfiction booklets online right now!

View our new 2017 Holiday Gift Guide.

Books mentioned in the episode:

• Killers of the Flower Moon
• Dear Fahrenheit 451
• Nomadland
• The Lost City of the Monkey God
• The Marsh King's Daughter
• Cook Korean!
• Glass Houses
• Lincoln in the Bardo
• Exit West
• Sing, Unburied, Sing

Listen to our interview with Fahrenheit 451 author Annie Spence.

Listen to our previous podcast episode on Cook Korean!