River Forest Public Library » hford

Celebrate International Literacy Day!

hford — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:15:52 +0000

Drop in to the library today, 9/8, and celebrate International Literacy Day! Enjoy a free apple, courtesy of Trader Joe’s Oak Park, and a free tote bag from the Literacy Volunteers of Western Cook County. While supplies last today at RFPL!

“Soaring to New Heights” with a new Children’s Room

hford — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:16:42 +0000

The River Forest Public Library Board of Trustees will host “Soaring to New Heights: The Marion Lahey Children’s Room in 2010” on Sunday, September 19th, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. “Soaring to New Heights” is a grand opening celebration of the newly remodeled Marion Lahey Children’s Room. Children can read with their favorite book characters, play a trivia game, or be entertained by our balloon artist. Activities kick off at 2:00 p.m., with the official ribbon cutting and an honorary speech by Library Board Trustee Joan Cusack at 3:00 p.m. Please join us on September 19th for this special event!

Homework Help at the Library

hford — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:03:29 +0000

Ask a Librarian!

If you need help finding something for your homework, you can contact the River Forest Public Library staff several ways.
Text a Librarian! -available during library hours
On the go and need to know? Text a Librarian!
RFPL Now Offers Text Reference Services (standard message rates apply).
Try it now with your cellphone. To get started, text “askrfpl” to the number 66746. Then send in your question. Save 66746 as “askrfpl” in your phone for all of your “need to know now” questions!

Meebo Chat Reference- available during library hours
Type directly into the text box below and hit enter to have your message sent to a River Forest Library Reference Librarian!

You can also contact us by email at reference(@)riverforestlibrary.org, or by phone at 708-366-5205 x 316.

Need help now and the Library is closed?
You may also use AskAway!- an online chat service which connects you to librarians all over the country.

You can use our Premium Resources at home for research any time, day or night. All you need is your library card! Access our complete list of premium online resources here.

Premium Resources Especially for Teens

MAS:Ultra
Designed specifically for high schoolers, MAS Ultra:School Edition, contains full-text from popular high school magazines and reference books, as well as biographies, and an image collection of over 400,000 images.

Mango Languages
Learn a new language! Access online lessons in Japanese, German, Greek, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, and Brazilian Portuguese as well as 3 ESL courses for Polish, Brazilian Portuguese and Spanish.

Middle Search Plus
Find full-text articles from over 140 middle school magazines, biographies, essays and primary source documents in this research for middle school students.

Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center
This online collection of resources is designed to help students as they research and study today’s hottest social issues, topics, and current events.

Points of View Reference Center
This database provides information on 250 controversial, current and hot topics. Series of essays on each topic contain multiple viewpoints and are constructed from a variety of resources.

Student Resource Center Gold
Geared toward middle school and high school students and teachers, this resource contains content based on national curriculum standards. Find articles as well as multimedia resources and study guides and more.

Helpful Websites for Research

Library Catalog
Access the SWAN Catalog here or through the link in the sidebar. Search by subject and location to find materials located at the River Forest Public Library.

Search Engines

Google
Unique features include Google News, Google Earth and Google Maps. Searchers can us double quotes ” ” for phrases, +(pluses before words to make sure they are seached especially common words) and -(minuses to get rid of annoying words)

Yahoo!Search
An extensive search engine, which responds to quotes, pluses and minuses. Also responds to the Boolean terms AND, OR, NOT (must be capitalized.)

Metacrawlers

Dogpile
Searches Google, Yahoo, LiveSearch, and Ask.com simultaneously.

Clusty
Takes the results of several well known search engines and clusters the sites for more effective results.

Surfwax
Searches several search engines and news sites and puts them in a handy list that can be sorted in several ways.

Subject Directories

About.com
Millions of websites, selected and grouped together by 750 expert “guides.”

Academic Info: Educational Subject Directory and Online Degrees
25,000 handpicked resources for high school and college students, grouped together in handy subject guides.

Infomine Scholarly Internet Resource Collections
Developed by the University of California, this site lists over 125,000 well annotated sites for academic research.

Librarians’ Internet Index
Sites on all topics, chosen and vetted by professional librarians .

Other Helpful Sites

Thinkfinity Browse for different subjects or find homework help, activities, and booklists.

Shmoop Free online guides to literature, history, poetry, plays and more.

Teens- Learn to Knit and Make a Harry Potter Scarf!

hford — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:25:49 +0000

Thursday, September 23 and Thursday, September 30, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
(registration and fee for materials required)

This two part program is co-sponsored by Chix with Stix in Forest Park. There is a required fee of $15 to pay for supplies which you will keep at the end of the classes. Space is limited so sign-up today! This program is limited to River Forest Library card holders due to space restrictions. Stop by the 2nd floor reference desk to reserve your spot.

Check out our Teen Programs

hford — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:21:28 +0000

September Programs

Thursday, September 23rd & Thursday, September 30th 7-8:30 PM,
Teens Learn to Knit & Make a Harry Potter Scarf
(registration and fee for materials required)
This two part program is co-sponsored by Chix with Stix in Forest Park. There is a required fee of $15 to pay for supplies which you will keep at the end of the classes. Space is limited so sign-up today! This program is limited to River Forest Library card holders due to space restrictions.

Saturday, September 25th, 10:30-11:30 a.m., Teen Mockingjay Book Discussion
Read Suzanne Collins’ book Mockingjay, the conclusion to the popular Hunger Games series, and come discuss it with other fans of the series. Refreshments will be served.

Saturday, September 25th, 1 PM, Harry Potter Movie Afternoon
Join us for a Harry Potter inspired snack, followed by a screening of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on Blu-Ray. Movie starts promptly at 1:30pm. Fun for all ages!

Tuesday, September 28th 6:15-7 PM, RFPL Teen Library Council Meeting
Teens in grades 7 and up who want to help their Library, gain valuable leadership experience, and have fun are invited to join the Teen Library Council. Applications will be available September 1st.

Opera in Pop Culture

hford — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:39:27 +0000

Tuesday, September 14th, 7:00 p.m.
Most people aren’t aware that they’ve been exposed to opera through movies, recordings, radio, TV, and advertising. Whether you are already an opera fan or would like to learn more about it in a relaxed setting, you’ll enjoy this program. Bob Levi’s multimedia lecture presentation will highlight numerous examples of opera melodies incorporated into various popular culture sources, including movie soundtracks, cartoons, radio and TV commercials, and the Internet. Bob will also share resources for viewing opera clips and accessing opera information online. Give us a call to sign up for this program at 708-366-5205 x 316!

Register to Vote at RFPL

hford — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:28:54 +0000

The League of Women Voters of Oak Park and River Forest will be registering voters at the River Forest Library on Saturday, September 11th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm and on Sunday, September 12 from 1 to 5 PM.

To register to vote, you must be:
1. A U.S. citizen
2. At least 18 years old by Election Day, November 2, 2010
3. A resident of your precinct at least 30 days prior to Election Day

You also must display two pieces of identification. Neither needs to be a photo ID, but one must include your current address.

Text A Librarian!

hford — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:13:22 +0000

On the go and need to know? Text a Librarian! Try it now with your cellphone. To get started, text “askrfpl” to the number 66746.

Then send in your question. Save 66746 as “askrfpl” in your phone for all of your “need to know now” questions! (standard message rates apply- check your data plan for details).

Library Hours and Location

hford — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 11:10:30 +0000

Regular Hours
M-Th 9 a.m.-9 p.m. F-Sat: 9 a.m-5 p.m.
Sunday (Sept-May): 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
Library Location
735 Lathrop Avenue, River Forest, IL.
View a map of our location by clicking here. Need driving directions? Click here.

The River Forest Public Library will be closed each year for the following holidays: New Year’s Day, Easter Sunday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. We will be open on all other holidays.

Join the Teen Library Council

hford — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 00:11:15 +0000

RFPL Teen Library Council

Make the library a cooler place for teens and get valuable leadership experience by joining the RFPL Teen Library Council (TLC)!

The Teen Library Council will meet once a month to:
-Help choose books, magazine, music, and movies for the library to purchase.
-Suggest ideas for teen programs.
-Make a difference in the community.
-Eat snacks and have a blast!

The Teen Library Council is open to River Forest Library cardholders in grades 7-12. Applications for the 2010-2011 school year will be available after September 1st, 2010. To join, pick up an application at the second floor reference desk. If you have questions, email teens(@)riverforestlibrary.org. All applications will be due by September 28th, 2010.