Join us tonight in Special Collections for an evening with Dr. Joe Schwieterman, as we celebrate and discuss the recent release of his latest book, Beyond Burnham: An Illustrated History of Planning for the Chicago Region.

Dr. Schwieterman, the director of the Chaddick Institute of Metropolitan Development here at DePaul, is a noted authority on transportation and a long-standing contributor to the Transportation Research Board (TRB), a unit of the National Academy of Sciences. A book signing and reception will following the reading, as well as the chance to explore the current exhibit in Special Collections & Archives, "The City that Works: Burnham and the Chicago Plan," which features an original copy of the Burnham Plan.

Wednesday, November 4th
Richardson Library, Special Collections & Archives
room 314
5:00pm 

Summer isn't over yet!  Check out these two free festivals this weekend!

Viva! Chicago Latin Music Festival
Grant Park, Jackson and Columbus
11 am - 9:30 pm (Saturday and Sunday)

Featuring evening performances by Aterciopelados (Saturday) and Javier Garcia (Sunday).
 

Taste of Greece 2009
100-400 Blocks of S. Halsted St.
Noon-11pm (Saturday and Sunday)

Featuring Greek food, music and dancing! 

It's true that the summer sun is rising a little later and setting a little sooner, but that doesn't mean summer's over.  It just means that movies in the park start a little earlier!  
The Chicago Park District's answer to the drive-in movie, the "Movies in the Parks" program screens more than 170 current and classic movies in neighborhood parks throughout the city.  The program runs from June-September, so there's still time to find a film to enjoy.  Vist www.chicagoparkdistrict.com and search for "movies," for location and titles.

In addition to a night out in your local park, you can enjoy Chicago's Outdoor Film Festival in Grant Park!  Films are shown at dusk on a giant screen at the corner of Monroe and Lake Shore Drive every Tuesday night between July 14th and August 25th.  The remaining films:

• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (July 28)
• Born Yesterday (Aug. 4)
• Psycho (Aug. 11)
• Young Mr. Lincoln (Aug. 18)
• Tootsie (Aug. 25)

 

Did you know that you can visit the Art Institute, Field Museum or Brookfield Zoo for FREE with a museum passport from the Chicago Public Library? 

Passes for families of up to four people are available for check out from Chicago Public Library branches.  Each library location has a limited number of Passports for each of the 13 museums that participate in the program, and one Museum Passport can be checked out per person, per loan period. The loan period for each Great Kids Museum Passport is one week. Might be just the thing for a rainy summer day.  Or week.

More information and a list of participating museums and institutions is available at http://www.chipublib.org/eventsprog/programs/kids/grkids_museumpass.php.  (Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a kid to take advantage of this program.)

Starting next week, Chicago's Farmers Markets bring more than 70 vendors selling fresh fruits, vegetables, plants and flowers to over 20 neighborhoods throughout the City of Chicago. Markets are held Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday around the city.

DePaul students, faculty and staff are lucky to have several farmer’s markets within walking distance of the Loop and Lincoln Park campuses!

Federal Plaza (in front of the post office at Adams and Dearborn)
Tuesdays, 7 am - 3 pm
Season begins Tuesday, May 12 and runs until October 27, 2009

Daley Plaza, 50 W. Washington
Thursdays, 7 am - 3 pm
Season begins Thursday May 14, 2009 and runs until Oct 15, 2009

Lincoln Park Farmers Market
Lincoln Park High School Parking Lot
Armitage Ave. & Orchard St.
Saturdays, 7 am - 2 pm
Season begins May 16, 2009 and runs until  October  31, 2009

Green City Market
Lincoln Park
1799 N. Clark St.
Saturdays, 7 am - 1 pm
Season begins May 16, 2009 and runs until October 31, 2009

More information is available at:
http://www.chicagofarmersmarkets.us/

There's still time to participate!

We've set a up a magnet board with plenty of words to create your poems on the first floor of Richardson Library on DePaul's Lincoln Park campus.    One lucky poet will win a new ipod shuffle!  The winner will be selected at random from all eligible entries at our first showcase of undergraduate student poets on Wednesday, April 29th at 6pm, in room 300, Richardson Library. 

Refreshments will be provided. 

See the magnetic poetry entries at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dpulibrary/

 

 

What do you mean, tornado experiments? Yes,  April is famously known for its taxes, tulips and rain, but do you know what else April showers could bring?  Tornadoes! 
Actually , the official kick-off of the largest attempt in history to study the development and evolution of tornadoes begins May 10th.  Known as the “Verification Of Rotation in Tornadoes EXperiment (VORTEX2)," this government–funded  study is designed to “lead to a better understanding of why tornadoes form--and how they can be more accurately predicted." Unfortunately, perhaps, Illinois is not one of the  study focus areas mentioned in the National Science Foundation’s press release.

For Illinois tornado news, we recommend a visit to the Illinois State Climatologist’s office.Think tornadoes avoid big cities? You may want to check out A Study of Chicago's Significant Tornadoes.The Univeristy of Illinois Extension Service has advice on what to do if a tornado watch or warning is issued for your area at: http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/disaster/storm/sw_tornado.html.

For more (and potentially less terrifying) national science news, you might enjoy browsing http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/ for information on scientific innovations and discoveries funded by the National Science Foundation. 

Don't forget to file your taxes by midnight, April 15th!

image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelrusinski/2555447764/

Help us celebrate National Poetry Month by creating a poem on our magnetic word board and snapping a picture of it with your phone or camera!

We've set a up a magnet board with plenty of words to help you create poetic masterpieces on the first floor of Richardson Library on DePaul's Lincoln Park campus.  

Send your photo to picture64that@photos.flickr.com, DePaul University Libraries' Flickr Account.  You MUST include your name and contact information in the body of your message. We will remove your contact info before we post your photo.  

We'll include some of our favorites in "The Full Text," the DePaul University Libraries blog; and one lucky poet will win a new ipod shuffle!  The winner will be selected at random from all eligible entries. And yes, we'll be using our judgment to determine what "eligible" means, so you should too.   We reserve the right to refrain from posting poems that are offensive, lewd or otherwise, so please save your risqué poems for the home refrigerator; submissions to this contest should be appropriate and in line with the University's Code of Student Responsibility.

Read everyone's contributions at www.flickr.com/photos/dpulibrary. 

The library really wants to know what you think about our services, so we’ve enabled a customer satisfaction survey.  The link to the survey can be found just under our “Ask A Librarian” feature and just above our news headlines on the front page of the library site. Look for the heading, “Tell us what you think!” and click on “take our quick survey.”

Or, take it right now! http://dpu.countingopinions.com/

Pick the library you use most, but feel free to comment on your experiences at any of the DePaul University Libraries.  You can choose to take a short (5-7 minute) or longer, more in-depth survey that takes about 15 minutes.  Both surveys help us to identify areas where we can improve services and better understand the needs of DePaul community members.   There is no need to answer any questions that do not apply to you.   

Thanks! We are looking forward to hearing more about how we can improve your library experience.  

You may check out as many books as you need from DePaul and I-Share libraries! If you are an undergraduate student, you may keep books for 4 weeks.  Graduate students have 8 weeks, and faculty have 16 weeks to return or renew their items. DePaul Library  CDs, DVDs, and other media may be borrowed for one week, and you may  borrow up to two at a time.

Keeping track of your borrowed items (and renewing them when they come due) is easy. Click on the link to “Renew Books (My Account)” on the front page of the library web site—it’s the  first thing on our list of services on the left-hand side of the page.  Once you’ve logged in with your 14 digit Library Borrower ID (located on the back of your DePaul ID card), you should see a list of the items you’ve checked out.  Mark the items you wish to renew and click “Renew Selected Items."   

 

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/phonono/520421532/