As your public library, we love to share! And that includes sharing space with our neighbors.
“The ethical cornerstone of public libraries is that we want to benefit the public good, and sharing what we have is the way we do it,” says Skye Lavin, Manager of Adult Services at the Forest Park Public Library. “So collaborating is built into the way libraries and librarians operate.”
In September, the Forest Park Public Library began a $1.3 million renovation of its building and spaces at 7555 Jackson Blvd. While their building is under construction, we’re hosting three of their book groups at the Main Library, 834 Lake St., through February. Anyone is welcome to attend.
‘Thriving book clubs are a very good sign’
“Both Forest Park Public Library and Oak Park Public Library celebrate literacy and literature in all its manifestations, and thriving book clubs are a very good sign that our work is succeeding,” Lavin says.
Many overlapping elements show the health of local reading culture, in addition to the work of libraries.
For example, Lavin points to all the Little Free Libraries around town, independent bookstores like The Book Table and Centuries and Sleuths, the successful work of the local schools, “and the gratification of every reader of any age who has ever drifted to a park bench or armchair with a good book that they’ve luckily encountered.”
