Category Archives: Announcements

December Super Sundays in the IRC

super-sundaysfy16emailThere are two more chances to spend Sunday afternoons into the evening in the IRC during December: Sunday, December 11, 2016 and Sunday, December 18, 2016. The IRC will be open from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. on both Sundays, and students are welcome to spend time in the library working on homework papers or projects, researching or relaxing. Books, magazines, DVDs and CDs can be checked out while the IRC is open these two Sundays.

An IRC team member will be in the IRC to help with research or technology questions, so come spend some time in the IRC before winter break.

Family Reading Night Is November 17, 2016

frn-posterThe 11th Annual Family Reading Night at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy is scheduled for Thursday evening, November 17, 2016 from 6:00 p.m. until 8 p.m.

This year’s theme is “There’s Energy Hiding in Your H20,” and the event is sponsored by IN2/ComEd. Families in the Aurora area will get together at IMSA for an evening of story time, crafts, science and just plain fun!

Last year over 150 grade school students and parent(s) from Aurora school districts 129 and 131 were excited to attend.

Every child in attendance will receive a book, a t-shirt, a backpack, candy and a water bottle. Oberweis Dairy of North Aurora provides an ice cream treat for each attendee. The Aurora Public Library and SciTech also participate in the nights festivities.

Parents can take a tour of the school or hear about other programs offered at IMSA.

Raffles will also take place during the night and include scientific toys, movie passes, restaurant gift cards, East and West Aurora High School basketball family game passes and other goodies.

To attend Family Reading Night, students must pre-register. Please contact Angela Richardson @ 630.907.5075 or angie@imsa.edu for more information or to register.

(Written by Angela Richardson)

Glennette Tilley Turner Read In will be held in the IRC

Adrienne Coleman is planning a Read In featuring author, Glennette Tilley Turner on Friday, Sept. 30 from Noon to 12:30 in the IRC. All are welcome to attend.

The following information about the author is from the Illinoisauthors.org  website:

Biographical and Professional Information

Glennette Tilley Turner is an author, historian and educator. In 1955, Turner earned her B.A. at Lake Forest College. After college she wrote advertising copy for a woman’s dress store. It was during this time that she wrote her first book, Surprise for Mrs. Burns. Regardless of her work in advertising, her heart was in education. After marrying and starting a family she went back to school to get her teaching credentials and began teaching elementary school.

Turner taught in the Chicago Public School System, the Maywood-Melrose Park Public School System and, in 1968, she began teaching in the Wheaton-Warrenville Public School System, where she remained for twenty years. In 1979, Turner earned her master’s degree in History and Juvenile Literature at Goddard College.

As a teacher she wrote skits with bios and these turned into her books, Take a Walk in Their Shoes and Follow in Their Footsteps. During this time she also wrote a monthly biographical sketch in Ebony, Jr! magazine. Not long after, Turner started researching and writing about the Underground Railroad publishing the books, The Underground Railroad in Illinois, Running for Our Lives and An Apple for Harriet Tubman.

Now retired, she devotes much of her time to writing. The Underground Railroad has been the focus of much of her historical research. She also writes biographies which include: Fort Mose: and the Story of the Man Who Built the First Free Black Settlement in Colonial America, Billy the Barber’s Mirror, Take Walk in Their Shoes: Biographies of 14 Outstanding African Americans , Follow in Their Footsteps and Lewis Howard Latimer.

She was a contributor to In Praise of Our Fathers and Mothers, Encyclopedia of Chicago and Women Building Chicago: 1790 – 1990. Excerpts of her work have been included in reading materials published by Open Court, Harcourt Brace, Houghton Mifflin, and Scott Foresman.

Turner is also a consultant, a historical researcher and lecturer on her knowledge of the Underground Railroad. As a member of the Underground Railroad Advisory Committee of the National Park Service, she testified before subcommittees of the U.S. Senate and House and the Illinois Senate in support of Underground Railroad legislation. Her Underground Railroad program is recognized by the NPS Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program. She has made presentations at National Network to Freedom Conferences, written articles about the Underground Railroad for several magazine and newspaper publications, and has been interviewed by C-SPAN and other cable networks. She also narrated the Chicago Opera Theater’s production of Harriet Tubman.

Mrs. Turner has received many awards for her work including: the Studs Terkel Humanities Award, the Margaret Landon Award, The Alice Browning Award of the International Black Writers Conference, the Irma Kingsley Johnson Award of the Friends of Amistad, and was inducted into the International Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent at the Gwendolyn Brooks Center of Chicago State University. In 2011 she received a lifetime achievement award from Operation Uplift and honored by Top Ladies of Distinction. Most recently, she was the 2012 recipient of Network’s Wilbur Siebert Award from the National Underground Railroad Program of the National Park Service for her extensive Underground Railroad writings and efforts to make this significant chapter of American history known. She is also the 2014 recipient of the DuPage County NAACP Medgar Evers Award.

Published Works

  • Surprise For Mrs. Burns, Albert Whitman, 1971
  • The Underground Railroad in DuPage County, Illinois, Newman Educational Publishers, 1986
  • Take a Walk in Their Shoes, Dutton, 1989
  • Lewis Howard Latimer, Silver Burdett, 1990
  • Follow in Their Footsteps, Puffin, 1999
  • The Underground Railroad in Illinois, Newman Educational Publishing, 2001
  • Running For Our Lives, Newman Educational Publishing, 2004
  • An Apple for Harriet Tubman, Albert Whitman & Company, 2006
  • Fort Mose: And The Story of The Man Who Built The First Free Black Settlement In Colonial America, Abrams Books, 2010
  • Billy the Barber’s Mirror: Reflecting on an Untold Lincoln Story, Newman Educational Publishing, 2014

For more information about the author, visit her website: http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/glennette-tilley-turner

Virtual reality and new technology in the IRC

The Student Maker Squad and IRC staff invite all who are interested to stop by the IRC to learn about the new zSpace Virtual Reality tablets from 3:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 30, 2016,

People who stop by will be able to use simulation to “build a prosthetic are, dissect a human heart or design and customize an electronic circuit.” The presentation will show some of what’s possible with virtual reality and new technology.

 

IRC is a Quiet Zone

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As the new school year gets underway, returning students will notice some changes, both in the physical surroundings and faculty and staff. One of the changes is that the library is now a Quiet Zone.
In an effort to support students who want to study in the IRC, everyone must now be quiet in the main area of the library, where numerous “Quiet Zone” signs are now posted.
Students who wish to study with others or need to discuss a project or paper, should head to the back of the library where the printers are, to talk quietly among themselves.
There is a Group Study Room, which students can reserve. Please ask a library staff member for the sign up sheet to reserve the Group Study Room.
In recent years, there have been frequent comments on the annual IRC survey about noise in the IRC. Please be respectful to classmates who have come to IRC to study and be quiet while you are here or go to a public area outside the library to talk freely with others.

 

Super Sundays in the IRC During May

As the semester wraps up, finals week and the deadline for class papers is fast approaching. During May, students can come to the IRC from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 8th, and Sunday, May 22nd, to study, research, print or check out library items.

IRC staff will be available to help with research and technical support. This is a great opportunity to work on a class project or study for finals. Hope to see you there!

 

 

 

Take the 2016 IRC survey this week

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National Library Week is a time to think about the contributions of libraries and librarians, and a time to promote library use and support.
We’re celebrating National Library Week by asking patrons to take the 2016 survey of IRC collections and services and tell us how we’re doing. Let us know what we’re doing right and what needs improvement.
Last year more sophomores than any other class took the survey. We’re wondering which class will give us the most feedback this year?
The survey should only take a few minutes, and it’s easily accessible at this website:
After completing the survey, participants will automatically be entered into a drawing for one of four prizes.
The survey is happening this week only, and the opportunity to take the survey and win a prize ends at the end of the day on Friday, April 15, 2016.
We can’t wait to read your feedback, so please participate!

Black History Month Read-In on Feb. 29th in the IRC

001A Read-In to celebrate Black History Month will be held in the IRC on Monday, February, 29th, 2016 at 4:20 p.m. This is a collaborative effort, planned and executed by the IRC, IMSA student group PME (Peer Multicultural Educators), and the English department. IMSA student Angitha Bright, ’18, created the Black History Month poster that hangs over the display and is pictured above.

002Artist, author and 1997 IMSA graduate, Tiffany Gholar, is the featured speaker of the Read-In and she will read exerpts from her self published book, “Bitter Pill to Swallow.” Tiffany will be introduced by IMSA faculty member Julie Dowling, who was Tiffany’s classmate.

Tiffany writes about her writing experience on her website:

“I became interested in fiction writing when I was thirteen years old. I began taking as many creative writing courses as I could at school, in continuing education classes, and in college and graduate school. Much to my surprise, the first books I published were about my artwork. It was only after independently publishing three art books that I returned to fiction.”

Copies of Tiffany’s books will be raffled off to IMSA students.

003Members of the IMSA student group, AASA (African American Student Association), will perform a dance during the Read-In, and students and staff will read from original work and works by their favorite authors.

Some of the authors that will be read on Monday may be found in the Black History Month display in the IRC. Works of fiction and non-fiction, and many DVDs of movies and documentaries dealing with black lives and race in America can be found in the display. All items can be checked out of the IRC.

004Food and drink will be served during the Read-In and will be provided by Sodexo.

Testing & Education Reference Center Adding More SAT Perks!

001There’s no need to panic about the redesigned SAT Test. The SAT Online Course will be updated on February 14th – this coming weekend. The update includes a free online course, practice tests and other study materials, which are all free!

The following link will give you access: http://ircguides.imsa.edu/testing.

satThe first SAT Test will be offered March 2016. The PSAT, which has also been redesigned, will be updated and available at the link above in April 2016. The ACT is current, and all available study materials related to the ACT are at the above link.

AP test practice tests and study guides in various subjects are also available at the above link. All the material for all these tests is free.

All the updates and study materials are sent to us from a “premiere publisher of study materials,” said Connie James-Jenkin, IRC Collection Development and Reference Librarian.

For more information, or if you have any questions, please visit Connie James-Jenkin, IRC Collection Development and Reference Librarian, in the IRC, or email her at: cjames-jenkin@imsa.edu.

 

 

 

Lunar New Year Celebrated with Read-In

003Various IMSA school groups have coordinated a Read-In for tomorrow, Tuesday, February 2, 2016 at 4:30 p.m. The Read-In is tied to the Lunar New Year and will celebrate Asian authors. Students and staff will read original work or a passage from a favorite author. Food and drink will be served.

004Connie James-Jenkin, IMSA Collection Development and Reference Librarian, and Jeanette Clark, Circulation Clerk, have put together a display of books that features Asian authors. There are poetry books, as well as fiction and non-fiction works. All the items on display are available for check-out.

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