More Than a Month widens the lens in 2019

The Color of Art still

It started as a way to celebrate the black experience all year long, and not just during Black History Month. Now, almost 36 months later, the library’s More Than a Month series kicks off its fourth year with an expanded outlook and programs that promote conversation and year-round enrichment for all. ‘It’s both/and’ More Than … Read more

Celebrate diverse cultures

Children coloring and making crafts at a Holi celebration

Join us this winter—and all year round—for activities that can help foster empathy in our community. On Wednesday, December 12, discover world holidays through crafts, games, books and artifacts from the Multicultural Collection at Holidays Around the World from 4 to 5 pm at Dole Branch Library. And join members of the community to celebrate Kwanzaa, a celebration … Read more

Women and gender in Islam

Understanding the World of Islam

By Maliha Chishti Dr. Maliha Chishti is a researcher specializing in war and post-conflict peacebuilding and a Lecturer at the Harris School of Public Policy. On Wednesday, October 3, she joins us at the Main Library at 7 pm as part of the ongoing series Understanding the World of Islam, presented in partnership with the … Read more

Tools for talking about race with kids

Book Covers: Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice by Paul Kivel, So You Want To Talk About Race By Ijeoma Oluo, Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children by Jennifer Harvey, Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald, Up! How Families Around the World Carry Their Little Ones by Susan Hughes, Skin Again by Bell Hooks, We Came to America by Faith Ringgold

Last year, the founder of local Facebook group Raising Race Conscious Kids in and around Oak Park reached out to us. Although she had been raised to be “color-blind,” Andrea Kovach wrote, she is raising her 3- and 6-year-olds differently because “research has shown that instead of dismantling structural racism, that way of parenting just … Read more

High school hosting America to Me viewings

Still of four teens in a huddle from STARZ America to Me Documentary

Library live-streaming canceled; join us at OPRF Three years ago, Academy Award-nominated director Steve James filmed a year in the life of a dozen Oak Park and River Forest High School students. Due to overwhelming response and limited resources, we have canceled our plans to live-stream at the library. Please join us at Oak Park … Read more

We are global learners and citizens

How do you start to have conversations about an object? It’s something the library’s new Multicultural Learning Librarian, Naomi Priddy, has been reflecting on as she immerses herself in the library’s Multicultural Collection. Her goal? To promote intercultural learning and empathy, in part by sharing the curiosity-sparking stories the collection’s artifacts can tell. “What do you … Read more