Advocacy Blog

This school year, I was lucky enough to receive a My Library is… Grant from RAILS at Glenbard East High School. Glenbard East is a majority-minority, Title 1 high school in Lombard, IL. Of our 2253 students, forty three percent are eligible for free or reduced lunch. Fourteen percent of our students...

The administration of Saint Patrick High School in Chicago decided to renovate the James J. Barrett Learning Resource Center during the 2022-2023 school year. During the renovation, the carpeting and furniture were replaced. Before the renovation, the collection was extensively evaluated and weeded...

Are graphic novels as HUGE in your library as they are in mine? It is our most highly circulated section, and every single title circulates at least once per school year. Safe to say, we love graphic novels here at Adler Park School. As I observed which graphic novels the students were choosing, and...

In January of 2020 our library was given a brand-new space. The idea was for our library’s physical space to be a more sophisticated college-like space for our young adult high school students. We weeded our collection heavily and got rid of the old. However, our library was still traditionally...

On January 29, 2024 Northern Illinois University Libraries opened a new exhibit displaying large Mexican sculpture pieces known as alebrijes. The exhibit, which will remain open until November 8, presents a collection of 23 pieces created by six artists from Mexico City. The DuPage Mexican Cultural...

In the bustling halls of Northbrook Glenview District 30, a beacon of innovation and inclusion is rising. It is called RisingSTEAM, a transformative initiative that is breaking barriers and igniting the passions of young minds in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM). This is no...

The Kemper Room is an exhibition space located on the upper level of the Paul V. Galvin Library at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Over the years it has been a place for campus partners to showcase an eclectic assortment of work: German airbrushed ceramics, textile artwork, photography, a...

Thanks to the generosity of the RAILS My Library Is . . . Grant, students at Oak Lawn Community High School have an opportunity to learn about the unique experiences and perspectives of women content creators from diverse backgrounds while also appreciating the significance of non-fiction comics as...

We were lucky enough to be a recipient the 2023 My Library Is... Grant for School Libraries. This money was used to create a staff book club that focused on building empathy for and understanding of diverse communities. The books chosen included fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels. Their purpose...

Like many educators, the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on my mental health. By February of 2021, I had a decision to make: remain in education or leave. I was dismayed with the state of public education and seriously considered leaving it all behind. But it wasn’t just educators. Students were...

Imagine giving your students the power to dive into the world of STEM wherever they go. Well, thanks to the RAILS “My Library Is…” grant money, our school library has launched the coolest initiative we've ever done - Maker Backpacks! Maker Backpacks are STEM kits that students can check out and...

Like many libraries, the Paul V. Galvin Library at the Illinois Institute of Technology receives more donated books than can possibly be added to the collection. Many of the donated titles are fiction and while we do have a leisure reading collection, only a small fraction of the books are of...

In 2022, while undergoing a major two-phase renovation, the Lisle Library District (LLD) fundraised for a special feature in the Youth Services department: a LiteZilla. The wall installation is akin to a giant Lite Brite with larger pegs that are safe for all ages. The library led the fundraising...

During the 2022-23 school year, library staff were informed that both of the D219 high school libraries (Niles North and Niles West) would be undergoing significant overhauls. We knew that remodels were on the horizon as we hadn’t been updated in a very long time, but the timeline was earlier than...

Realizing that the biography collection had some big gaps in representation while working with students was an inspiration for this RAILS grant. I wanted students to be able to see themselves in the collection of life stories and also be able to see outside their daily lives in Libertyville. This...